f I A NT N U I a J a ,b' UNI * 



ei[^ JO 



THE 



Virginia Tourist. 

SKETCHES OF THE 
SPRINGS AND MOUNTAINS OF VIRGINIA: 



CONTAINING 

AN EXPOSITION OF FIELDS FOR THE TOURIST IN VIRGINIA; NATURAL 

BEAUTIES AND WONDERS OF THE STATE; ALSO ACCOUNTS OF 

ITS MINERAL SPRINGS; AND A MEDICAL GUIDE TO 

THE USE OF THE WATERS, ETC., ETC. 



BY 

EDWARD A. POLLARD, 

Author of " The Black Diamonds," " The Lost Cause," etc. etc. 



ILLUSTRA TED BY ENGRA VINGS FROM ACTUAL SKETCHES. 



y 

PHILADELPHIA 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

1870. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 



.?^^ 



Lippincott's Press, 

PHILADELPHIA. 



ANNOUNCEMENT. 




HE Author comes before the public, this time, 
humbly bearing what may be described to many 
readers in America as the discoveries or revela- 
;ions of a New World ! 

So little known, even among his own countrymen, is 
Iransmontane Virginia; not now referring to its unde- 
veloped industrial resources, but to its unappreciated 
wealth of natural scenery, its unknown rivers and its 
unexplored mountains ; the beauties and wonders which 
designate this region as the richest field, the most abun- 
dant area of adventure and discovery, yet remaining for 
the American Tourist; and, added to these gifts, the 
curious and magnificent dowry that Nature has bestowed 
in the distribution here of Mineral Springs unequaled in 
the world. 

It is believed that the many interests contained in this 
work will embrace many classes of readers. In brief, it 
is designed to be a Traveller's or Tourist's Guide, a 
Medical Guide, a Sketch Book and an Artist's Portfolio 
of the Great Mountain Belt of Virginia; a region in which 
is displayed a Scenery that, positively, when known, will 

3 



4 ANNOUNCEMENT. 

admit no rivals on this continent, and in which is provided 
the additional and illimitable attraction of the great Sani' 
tarium of America. 

The author has told the unaffected story of a real tour, 
but he has attempted something more than a slight or a 
temporary work. He has designed, not without some 
pride in the undertaking, a great patriotic contribution to 
the State of Virginia, developing a source of prosperity 
as fruitful and real as that of her fields and mines ; and 
he has aimed to lay a worthy literary offering on those 
high altars of worship which he has found in some of the 
grandest scenes of Nature. 

Among the few persons he has to thank for any favors 
the author would testify here his gratitude to his artist 
friend, Warren C. White, Esq., whose assistance in sketch- 
ing some of the scenes of the work not only deserves 
acknowledgment, but whose affectionate companionship 
on the journey is remembered in another sense and with 
a tenderer gratitude. 

The author has but little else to be thankful for in the 
way of encouragement of his work. However, he is ac- 
customed to submit his writings on their merit alone ; and 
he is proud to say that, however the envy of criticism may 
have interposed and expostulated, the favors of the reading 
public have never yet failed to give him signal rewards. 

Edward A. Pollard. 
Home in Virginia. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

PAGE 

Neglect of the Natural Scenery of Virginia — A Glance over its 
Beauties and Wonders — The Natural Structure of 
Virginia — Design of our Work — " Old " Virginia — Natural 
Divisions of the State — Piedmont Virginia — The Valley of 
Virginia — Husbandmen of the Valley — South-west Virginia 
— Picture Galleries constituted by the Mountains — Three 
Notable Pictures — Virginia as a Recent Discovery — THE 
Springs Region of Virginia — The Sanitarium of 
America — The Boundaries of this Region — Its Relation 
to the Mississippi Valley — Hotel Accommodations at the 
Springs — Their Defects — Investments in Springs' Property — 
Guide to the Virginia Tourist — The Angle which 
measures the Springs Region — How it may be Traversed — 
Stage Routes over the Mountains — Table of Routes in 
and about the Springs Region—A Topographical Coup 
d^ (Kil oi 2l Tour in Virginia 13 

CHAPTER II. 

LYNCHBURG AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 

Lynchburg recommended as a Starting-point of a Tour in Vir- 
ginia — Superior Attractions of South-west Virginia for the 
Tourist — Obscurities of this Part of the State — Description 
of "the Hill City " — Mountain Scenery around Lynchburg — 
A Royal Peculiarity of the Blue Ridge — Ancient Memories 
of Lynchburg — The James River and Kanawha Canal — 
1* 5 



6 CONTENTS, 

PAGE 

George "Washington's Vision — The Great Water Line 
OF Virginia — A Vision of Romance as well as of Empire — 
The Boast of New River — An Heraldic Ensign for " New " 
Virginia 37 

CHAPTER III. 

FROM LYNCHBURG TO THE NATURAL BRIDGE. 

Recent Neglect of the Natural Bridge by Sight-Seers — Directions 
of Route to it — On the Banks of the James — Balcony Falls 
— Views from the Stage Road — Scenery on North River — 
The Natural Bridge — First Sight of it — Curious Propor- 
tions of Art in its Structure — The Angle of Ascent — View 
from the Creek below — A Strange Imagination — Gates of 
Hell — The Natural Bridge compared with Niagara Falls — 
Two Illustrations of the Sublime in our American Schools 
of ^Esthetics — Climbing the Natural Bridge — Testi- 
mony of an Eye-witness 48 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE PEAKS OF OTTER. 

Journey to the Peaks — Experiences by the Wayside — Panoramic 
Views — Picture of a Feudal Proprietorship — Grape-growing 
in the Mountains — Toilsome Ascent — On the Peak — Stand- 
ing up in the great Hollowness of the Sky — Peculiar Sublim- 
ity of the Peaks of Otter — A Religious Reflection on the 
Scene — Bird of the Mountain — The Sublime Effect of a 
Striking Contrast — The Little Earth and the Great Heav- 
ens , ..„ 60 

CHAPTER V. 

ALLEGHANY SPRINGS AND SURROUNDINGS. 

Route to the Alleghany Springs — At the Heart of the Mountains 
of Virginia — Access to the Springs North and South — The 
Water sui generis, and the most elaborate in the World — • 
Analysis of the Water — Medical Guide to its Uses — Wonder- 



CONTENTS. 7 

PAGE 

ful Effects of the Water — The Scenery around the Springs 
the most Remarkable in Virginia — Puncheon Run Falls — 
Romance of its Discovery — Climbing the Mountain — A 
Rough Journey — Sublimity of the Falls — Descent Two 
Thousand Feet — Scenes on Puncheon Run — " Purgatoiy" — 
The Deserters' Fortress — Fisher's View — Looking from 
the Mountain's Top — Characteristics of Mountain Views — 
Sublime Effect of a View of and beyond the Alleghany 70 

CHAPTER VI. 

A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA. 

Going to the Natural Tunnel — X Seat of Empire — Bristol and 
its Surroundings — A Ride through Two States — The 
White Ships of the Mountains — Estillville — A Glance at 
the Mineral Wealth of the Country — " Boone's Trace " — 
Indian Relics and Traditions — The Natural Tunnel — 
First View of the Tunnel — Its Dimensions — Frightful Pass- 
age through it — Sublime View from the Lower Entrance — 
Speculations as to the Cause of this great Natural Wonder — 
The Tunnel seen by Sunrise — Sublime and Picturesque Ef- 
fects — Association of an Indian Story — The Tragedy of 
Masoa — The Adventure of Dodson — A Battle with an Eagle 
— The Cave of the Unknown — Almost Lost — A Cavern- 
ous Country — BLOOMING Rocks — A Poetical Country- 
man — The Holston Springs — Analysis of the "Hot 
Spring" — Attractions of the Place.. ......,..,..„, ..,,„....„,.,, 91 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE MONTGOMERY WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, AND THE YELLOW 
SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

Locality of the Montgomery White Sulphur Springs — Beauties 
and Attractions of the Place — Medical Description of the 
Water — Reputation of the Springs for Social Gayeties — A 
Criticism on Southern Society — A Gala Day at the 
Montgomery White Sulphur — Description of a "Grand" 
Tournament — "Gander-pulling" — A Knightly Defence of 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

the Tournament — A Beautiful Illumination in the Moun- 
tains—A Night Picture— The Yellow Sulphur Springs 
— Analysis and Virtues of the Water — Within Sixty Feet of 
the Alleghany Summit 119 

CHAPTER VIII. 

A TRIP TO NEW RIVER, SALT POND, BALD KNOB AND LITTLE 

STONY CREEK. 

Plan of a Trip into Giles County — Crossing the Mountain — A 
Ride through a Night-storm — The Adventure of a Lost Hat 
— Benighted in the Woods — Singular Experience with a 
Mountaineer — One of " Nature's Noblemen " — Eggles- 
ton's White Sulphur Springs — Scenery of New 
River — " Pompey's Pillar " and " Caesar's Arch " — " The 
Narrows" — " Hawk's Nest" — New River compared with 
the Rhine — Little Stony Falls — Terrific Leap of the 
Water — Salt Pond — A Lake of Fresh Water suspended 
among the Clouds — A Submerged Forest — Part of the Lake 
Unfathomable — An Old Lady's Theory — An Emigrant 
Company of East Tennesseeans — Talks with Them — A Pic- 
ture of Solitude — Bald Knob — Looking into Five States 
— Effects as compared with the View from the Peaks of 
Otter — Cloud-ships — A Fog-ocean — A Hospitable Rest 130 

CHAPTER IX. 

TAZEWELL COUNTY THE SWITZERLAND OF VIRGINIA. 

How to go to Tazewell County — Description of the Route — Salt- 
ville — The Alps of Virginia — " The Peak " — An Indian 
Battle-Field — Dial Rock — Climbing the Cliffs — Valley of 
the Clinch River — View of it on a Summer's Evening — 
Burke's Garden — Abb's Valley — The Flora of South-west 
Virginia — The Tazewell Historical Society — Was Tazewell 
County ancient Xuala ? — Social and Literary Culture in the 
Mountains — Romance on Horseback — A Ride through 
the Mountains — Homes of the Mountaineers — Com- 
parison of the Mountaineer and the Lowland Rustic — Dia- 



CONTENTS. 9 

PAGE 

lect of the Mountains — Traditions of the Early Commerce 
of South-west Virginia — "Uncle Billy" — Isolation of the 
Mountaineer's Home — An Observation of Mr. Horace 
Greeley — Simplicity of a Primitive Society — A Comedy in 
THE Mountains — " Sal's" Courtship — The " beatingest " 
Dog — A Lock of Hair — Reflections on the Mountain Maid 
— A Vision of Beauty I54 

CHAPTER X. 

LEXINGTON AND THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA, 

From South-west Virginia to Lexington — Coyner's Springs — 
Reputation of the Water — Lexington and its Surround- 
ings — " The Athens of Virginia " — Its Educational Institu- 
tions — General Lee's Professorship — The Grave of 
Stonewall Jackson — A curious letter from a former 
Governor of Virginia — The Rockbridge Baths — A Buoy- 
ant Water — The Rockbridge Alum Springs — Mountain 
Views — A Remarkable Advantage of the Watering-Places 
of Virginia — Testimony of Dr. Cartwright — The Valley 
OF Virginia — Its Physical Geography — Peculiarity of 
Minor Formations — The Luray Valley — View from Thorn- 
ton's Gap — A Recollection of the War — Mineral Springs 
on the Flanks of the Alleghany — The Valley of Virginia, as 
a Fancy and as a Reality, , i8o 

CHAPTER XL 

a romance of the valley OF VIRGINIA. 

Geographical Fables of the early Virginia Colonists — Mr. Jeffer- 
son's belief in the Mastodon — A Curious Indian Myth — 
The Barrier of the Blue Ridge — Influx of Pennsylvania 
Germans into the Valley of Virginia — The Adventures of 
John Sailing — The Lewis Family — Remarkable Result of a 
Buffalo Hunt — Burden's Grant — Andrew Lewis' Explor- 
ations on Greenbrier River — The Shawnees — Death of 
Cornstalk — Relations of the Germans and of the Scotch- 
Irish in the Valley—Characteristics of the Scotch-Irish — 



lO CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Their Churches and Schools — Three Generations in the 
Valley — The Progress of America in Miniature 198 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

The Railroad through the Mountains — vSite of the White Sul- 
phur Springs — Pleasing Scenery — The Springs in 1 7 72 — 
Hotel Improvements — The Grounds — Analysis of the White 
Sulphur Water — Remarks on the Use of Mineral Waters — 
Popular Errors on the Subject — Debauchery in Mineral 
Waters — A Guide to the Use of the White Sulphur Water 
— The Theory of Fresh vs. Stale — The Bathing Establish- 
ment — Life at the Springs — " Jenkins " in Virginia — A 
Ball-room Conversation — A Southern Editor on Society 
and Comfort at the Springs — Why Virginians " can't keep 
Hotels" — An Anecdote of Boniface — The White Sulphur 
Hotel a Superior one , 222 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE SPRINGS OF MONROE AND BATH COUNTIES. 

The Springs Region described from the White Sulphur as a 
Centre — Surrounding Scenery — View from Dry Creek — 
The Old Sweet Springs — A Ride through the Rain — 
An Aristocratic Resort — Medical Description of the Old 
Sweet Water — The Salt Sulphur Springs — Observa- 
tions of Dr. Mutter — The Red Sulphur Springs — Re- 
ported cures of Consumption — The Blue Sulphur Springs 
— Analysis of the Water — Routes from the Greenbrier 
White Sulphur Springs into Bath County — The Cascade 
OF THE Falling Springs — Views through a New Atmos- 
phere — The Blowing Cave — Thomas Jefferson's Descrip- 
tion Incorrect — The Warm Springs Mountain — Look- 
ing from "Flag Rock" — The Hot Springs — Virtues of 
the Thermal Baths — The Warm Springs — An Indian 
Tradition — The Healing Springs — Beauties of Scenery 
— Pleasures of Trout-fishing — Dr. Burke on these Springs 



CONTENTS. 1 1 

PAGH 

— The Bath Alum Springs — Effects of the Water — 
Painful Aspects of Invalidism at the Springs 239 

CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM STAUNTON TO WEYER's CAVE. 

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad — Looking to the Occident 
— A Wilderness of Riches — The Town of Staunton — A 
Glance at its History — Views of the Surrounding Country 
— The Virginian "Apology" for Roads — Weyer's Cave 
— A Subterranean Diorama — " Formations" and Curiosities 
— Peculiarities of Subterranean Nomenclature — "Washing- 
ton's Hall " — A Flight of Fancies — Dimensions of the 
Ca\e — Estimate of it as a Natural Wonder — Age of the 
Stalactites — The Sublimity of Nature as a Workman.... 260 

Practical Hints to the Virginia Tourist 273 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



MAP OF SPRINGS REGION frontispiece. 

PAGE 

SCENE ON NORTH RIVER • 5° 

PUNCHEON RUN FALLS 77 

" PURGATORY"— VIEW ON PUNCHEON RUN • . 85 

FISHER"S VIEW— THE ALLEGHANY SPRINGS................. 89 

THE NATURAL TUNNEL— THE INTERIOR.. 103 

" " « —LOOKING OUT.... 106 

LITTLE STONY FALLS.... 143 

VIEW FROM THORNTON'S GAP— THE LURAY VALLEY 195 

VIEW ON DRY CREEK. 240 

TROUT POOL.... 256 

12 



The Virginia Tourist. 



CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTORY. ' 

Neglect of the Naiural Scenery of Virginia — A Glance over its Beauties and Won- 
ders — The Natural Structure of Virginia — Design of our Work — "Old" 
Virginia — Natural Divisions of the State — Piedmont Virginia — The Valley of 
Virginia — Husbandmen of the Valley — South-west Virginia — '"icture Galleries 
constituted by the Mountains — Three Notable Pictures — Virginia as a Recent 
Discovery — The Springs Region of Virginia — The Sanitarium of 
America — The Bnundariel of this Region — Its Relation to the Mississippi 
Valley — Hotel Accommodations at the Springs — Their Defects — Investments 
in Springs' Property — Guide to the Virginia Tourist — The Angle which 
measures the Springs Region — How it may be Traversed — Stage Routes over 
the Mountains — Table of Routes in and about the Springs Region — 
A Topographical Cotip cVCEil oiz. Tour in Virginia. 




r is a subject of complaint, and a sore reflection 
with Virginians, that the natural scenery of their 
State, which they claim excels in interest any 
equal area of the Union, and surpasses that of Europe in 
the breadth of its panoramas and in many other effects, 
has been so long neglected, obtaining hitherto so small a 
patronage of the traveler and the artist. Certainly no 
other State in the Union can make the same number of 
exhibitions of the sublime and curious in works of the 
wonder and cunning of Nature. Yet these are but little 
known north of the Potomac, and a population unskilled 
2 . 13 



14 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST, 

<, 

in advertising the attractions of their neighborhood see 
them neglected, while inferior scenes and ■ resorts in the 
North are attended every convenient season by tens of 
thousands of visitors, are displayed in illustrated papers, 
written of, ostentatiously described, and made objects of 
curiosity and of interest to the whole world. The writer 
was recently shown a book entitled Summer Resorts of 
America, in which not a single place attractive to travelers 
for health or pleasure was noted south of Cape May. Yet 
here, in this wonderful State of Virginia, we have a well- 
defined belt of territory containing more than twenty 
mineral springs, in the variety and efficacy of their waters 
certainly unequaled in the whole world, and offering the 
remarkable double attraction that these fountains of 
health and pleasure are set in a scenery unsurpassed, and 
wherein stand numerous wonders of Nature, which have 
been sometimes esteemed by the few foreign travelers 
who have penetrated to our mountain lands as, indeed, 
the greatest sights of the American continent. 

In years before the war these scenes were visited from 
abroad to some extent. This awakening interest must 
have been cut short by the war, or, for some other reason, 
curiosity has resiled from the mountains of Virginia j for 
it is certain that scenes among them, once referred to as 
wonderful and interesting, have fallen into comparative 
obscurity, and have for years since the war failed to make 
their appearance, even in the advertisement columns of 
the newspapers. Yet what beauties and wonders may be 
swept by a glance of the eye across less than half the 
breadth of the State ! 

Take the Natural Bridge in Rockbridge county, its arch 
fifty-five feet higher than Niagara Falls, its mystic rocks 
rising with the decision of a wall. 



INTRODUCTORY. 1 5 

The Peaks of Otter (Bedford county), 5307 feet above 
the sea-level, where John Randolph, once witnessing the 
sun rise over the majestic scene, turned to his servant, 
having no other to whom he could express his thoughts, 
and charged him "never, from that time, to believe any 
one who told him there was no God ! ' ' 

Hawk's Nest, or Marshall's Pillar (Fayette county), the 
latter name in honor of Chief Justice Marshall, who, as 
one of the State commissioners, stood upon its fearful 
brink, the entire spot not affording standing-room for 
half a dozen persons, and sounded its exact depth to the 
river margin, which exceeds one thousand feet. 

The Natural Tunnel (Scott county), passing one hun- 
dred and fifty yards through the solid rock, making a huge 
subterraneous cavern or grotto, whose vaulted roof rises 
seventy to eighty feet above its floor, and facing the en- 
trance to which is an amphitheatre of rude and frightful 
precipices, looking like the deserted thrones of the genii 
of the mountain. 

Weyer's Cave (Augusta county), which has been com- 
pared to the celebrated Grotto of Antiparos, traversing in 
length more than sixteen hundred feet, its innumerable 
apartments filled with snowy-white concretions of a thou- 
sand various forms, among which stands "the Nation's 
Hero," a concretion having the form and drapery of a 
gigantic statue. 

A mountain scenery, of a portion of which an English 
traveler, passing through the Kanawha country to the 
White Sulphur Springs, has written: " For one hundred 
and sixty miles you pass through a gallery of pictures 
most exquisite, most varied, most beautiful — one that will 
not suffer in comparison with a row along the finest por- 
tions of the Rhine." 



1 6 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST, 

Again, on the very waters of '' the Rhine of Virginia," 
beautiful, wonderful New River, cutting with its steel-blue 
blade into the very rock, and, even at the base of its 
cliffs, passing one hundred and fifty feet deep through 
glittering banks of the mineral wealth of the State. 

The Bald Knob, with nothing but a broken crown of 
rock on its scarred summit, from which we may look as 
far as eye can reach, and watch the passenger clouds into 
five States. 

The Salt Pond, the mysterious lake hanging among the 
clouds on the side of Bald Knob, unfathomable, or mea- 
sured in places only by the submerged forest which we 
see as if cast in bronze in the depths of the emerald 
waters. 

A little farther away "a new Switzerland," compassed 
in Tazewell county, where *' Burke's Garden" smiles in 
the shadow of ^'the Peak," and the swift streams dash 
like arrows through the mountain sides. 

And lastly — that the freshness of a recent discovery 
may adorn the catalogue — the Puncheon Run Falls, dis- 
covered near the Alleghany Springs, the water, hurled 
from the brow of the mountain, descending at an angle 
near the perpendicular eighteen hundred or two thousand 
feet — a scene, in its union of the picturesque and grand, 
unexcelled, yet which had never been noticed until the 
summer of 1869, but by the rude and stoical mountaineers, 
who had never thought of advertising it to the world. 

But this is only an enumeration of scenes at random. 
There is a remarkable system of distribution in the natu- 
ral scenery of Virginia. There is an order in the exhi- 
bition — a dioramic order in which its scenes pass before 
our eyes ; a succession of galleries constituted by its rivers 
and mountains. 



INTR OD UC TOR T. 1 7 

This by way of prefatory remark. In affording the 
reader an introduction to the scenery loosely enumerated 
above, and to other interests of our work, it will be con- 
venient here to lay the foundation of the tour we propose 
in some general remarks, and to indicate our plan under 
some different heads. 

THE NATURAL STRUCTURE OF VIRGINIA. 

We are not going to write of the physical geography 
of the State, its geology, or its agriculture. It is not the 
design of our work to descant on the ''resources" of Vir- 
ginia, to uncover her robes of field and forest, or to throw 
curious and scientific glances into her beauteous bosom. 
The author is simply a tourist ; he is traveling for pleas- 
ure ; and he cannot pause to observe what there is of 
scientific or commercial interest in the country he trav- 
erses, unless such as falls obviously under the attention of 
the ordinary traveler. Such "incidental mentionings" 
may be not without value or interest. But the main pur- 
pose of the author is simply to record the impressions of 
a real journey from the stand-points of pleasure and rec- 
reation. He is a tourist, not a scientific explorer, or 
even a "commercial traveler;" he is to tell what there 
is of the beautiful and the enjoyable in "the grand old 
State" — and the task is plentiful enough. It is distinct 
enough, too, though it may sometimes fall into reflec- 
tions on "resources" of the State as seen from the way- 
side, and mingle something slight of "the material" with 
the aesthetic and luxurious. 

The Natural Structure of Virginia constitutes those 
remarkable divisions of scenery to which we have already 
referred. They are divisions which have grown up on 
2* B 



1 8 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

differences of topography and soil, and to which the steps 
are geographical. The common impressions of Virginia 
which the larger mass of travelers passing hurriedly 
through it obtain are those of the Atlantic slope, and 
they are impressions by no means prepossessing. Pass- 
ing from the Potomac through a series of dreary country 
towns to the unclean city of Richmond, or floated there 
from Norfolk on the tidewater of the James, or going 
even for many miles on the railroads leading from the 
capital of the State, the traveler on the ordinary routes 
has but a sorry sight of "old" Virginia, in her galled 
hills and old fields, worn to exhaustion by the plough 
and hoe in the culture of tobacco and corn. It is a level 
and barren picture. The old field pines, the broom 
sedge and the persimmons are the memorials of "im- 
provement" under the past system of slavery. The trav- 
eler from the North thinks of his own populous land- 
scapes, he compares what he sees along the low, scanty 
banks of the historic rivers of Virginia with the valleys 
of the Hudson, the Mohawk and the Susquehanna, and, 
having seen the decays of Eastern Virginia, he carries 
home the impression that there is but little worth seeing 
in the State, except for those "prospecting" for cheap 
farms and speculating in impoverished lands. 

But never were impressions more partial or unjust. He 
has traversed but the decayed framework of the beauties 
of Virginia scenery and the bounties of her soil. He has 
not yet seen through the blue-gilded mists of the moun- 
tains, which his eye has caught only desultorily and in 
the distance. Let him approach those distant heights, 
of which he has seen only the faint outline from the win- 
dows of the railroad car, and in the picturesque landscape 
there rise up in perspective the Blue Ridge, the Peaks of 



INTRODUCTORT. 19 

Otter and Monticello, overlooking the grand dome of 
the University of Virginia. 

He is now in Piedmont Virginia. The character of 
the agriculture is changed. There is a mixed system of 
farming, planting and grazing. He goes beyond the 
blue mountains — that mysteriously and beautifully robed 
boundary which Nature has lifted up into the sky, in the 
Blue Ridge, the barrier for a century against the early 
enterprise of the Virginia colonist — and new scenes un- 
fold. He has struck the rich soils of clay, loam and 
limestone — the grand, rock-ribbed belt that girds the 
mountains from the Potomac to Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky, and widens and embraces the beautiful Valley of 
Virginia. He is in a country where every view is of won- 
der, and admiration, and thankfulness. The fields are 
dressed with the green grass and the blue grass ; the hills 
and the mountains ami the valleys smile with verdure; 
there are the golden harvests, and fruits of summer and 
autumn, and the wealth of flowers; the year is crowned 
with goodness; the pure *' encasing air" is as an invisible 
garment of inspiration; the pastures are clothed with' 
flocks and herds, which are led into green pastures and 
lie down by still waters. There are the cattle upon a 
thousand hills. There are the husbandmen of the Valley, 
a simple and prosperous race ; there are real Arcadians ; 
there Plenty smiles in the sunburnt face; there, in the 
sweet and fruitful fields, men send up the incense of 
grateful hearts, and invoke the blessing of Him who 
''visits the earth and waters it," upon the fruits of honest 
toil. 

Upon these mountain shelves Nature has placed the 
great stores of her fertilizers, to renovate the worn and 
barren lands which decline to the sea. Along its entire 



20 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

northern border, throughout the whole extent of the 
Valley and South-west Virginia, lie buried, deep down in 
the earth, beds of limestone, cropping out upon the sur- 
face everywhere, and inviting capital and enterprise to 
burn and market millions of tons of it, and to spread it 
upon the clay and sand soils of all Eastern Virginia. 
There are no sour growths here; the sorrel, the pines, 
and the broom sedge have been exchanged for the vigor- 
ous cereals and all the healthful blooms of domesticated 
vegetation. 

The topography, the frame of the earth here, is worthy 
of its garniture. The most remarkable topographical 
feature of Virginia is the grand gallery constituted by its 
mountain ranges, the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany, and 
a distribution of rivers which we shall elsewhere notice ; 
and it is a gallery where are not only piled up the de- 
posits of its wealth and the displays of its bounty, but 
where the loveliest and the grandest pictures succeed 
wherever the eye roves. Here are the mountains — that 
wonderful feature of Nature which is the universal expres- 
sion of the sublime, the types of the highest mystery; for 
it is on the mountains where the religions of all men have, 
by curious universal instinct, placed the oracles of God 
and the altars of sacrifice. Here are the valleys, the 
abode of the beautiful ; that which the universal spirit of 
poetry has chosen as its favorite part of earth ; here the 
variegated display, the walk of meditation, the home of 
the thankful laborer, the loveliness of Nature with the 
usefulness of man ; no longer the severity of the mountain 
robe of solitude, but the warm colors of human life on 
the landscape. We are in the Garden of Virginia, and. 
its boundaries are the mountains that stand out as land- 
marks on the vast and shoreless sea of the azure heavens. 



INTR OD UC TOR 1'. 2 1 

Let the traveler now pass out of the Valley of Vir- 
ginia, crossing the range of the Alleghany where it de- 
clines to the south-west — its altitudes sunken and broken — 
and he is in another division of the State. He passes 
through a shattered side of a natural gallery, a picturesque 
confusion, where the great Appalachian system apparently 
loses its unity and is tossed into a sea of mountains. He 
passes by the salt wells, that remarkable source of the 
supply of brine which the wants of six millions of people 
in a four years' war did not sensibly diminish ; a never- 
failing fountain of waters welling up perennially in the 
deep, beautiful basin of the richest land in the State, He 
is now in South-west Virginia. He is in a country richer in 
mineral resources than California, and more beautiful and 
various in its natural scenery than any equal area in 
America. The modern El Dorado boasts only of goldj 
but here are not only salt, plaster, limestone and marble, 
but in the same belt, in an area twenty miles in width by 
sixty in length, are clustered iron, lead, copper, zinc, 
baryta and numerous other minerals, discovered but not 
developed. Gold is no longer the measure of mineral 
wealth. The lead mines of South-west Virginia supplied 
the Confederacy with shot during the war. The iron 
alone hid in its mountains is said by Pennsylvania iron 
men to be worth, if developed, more than the gold mines 
of California. And just beyond this richly-jeweled belt, 
toward the Cumberland range and the Ohio, is a vast 
coal field, richer, more extensive, than the coal field 
of Pennsylvania — the '* black diamonds" more indispen- 
sable for the crown of Modern Commerce than the gems 
of Golconda. 

Here, too, the natural scenery of Virginia has its last, 
and, perhaps, supremest development. It is a region 



22 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

almost unknown to tourists. The wild and rugged scenery 
at Harper's Ferry, where the mad rush of the mingled 
waters of the Shenandoah and the Potomac . bursts the 
mountain barrier, has been rendered famous by the pen 
of Thomas Jefferson; the grandeur and beauty of "Bal- 
cony Falls," where the James river makes its passage 
through the Blue Ridge, glancing and murmuring through 
the rock-ribbed bosom of the everlasting hills, is a com- 
mon spectacle to the traveler ; but the third grand pic- 
ture of the same peculiar sort, constituted by the river and 
its barrier, and fitted in the Mountain Gallery of Virginia — 
"the Breaks of the Sandy," where the Cumberland range 
is riven asunder by the accumulated forces of the head- 
waters of Big Sandy, the mountain rent from apex to 
base by the rushing and resistless surge — is comparatively 
unvisited and unknown. There is an order in these three 
notable pictures of the savage sublimity of mountain and 
river — a system founded in the relations of the two 
elements of natural scenery in Virginia; but of these 
kindred scenes that of the Sandy is undoubtedly the sur- 
passing one. Here is the colossal and ruined ' ' Chimney, ' ' 
standing four hundred feet, in the deep, blue sky, above 
the other gigantic rocks, the fallen walls and shattered 
arches of antediluvian architecture. The scene from the 
bed of the stream has been thus described by one who, 
like ourselves — and even beyond those routes which we 
have considered accessible to the ordinary traveler, and 
which, therefore, limit this work — has sought out the 
beauties of Virginia scenery: "Bald and perpendicular 
walls of sandstone rise in naked majesty hundreds of feet 
above, whilst the waters which chafe and madden at their 
base are filled and choked by the shattered fragments 
which have been riven from their summits. Here and 



INTR OD UC TOR T. 23 

there the hand of Nature, the great Restorer, has softened 
the asperities of the scene, and clothed in verdure and 
beauty both beetHng cHff and precipitous ravine. Here 
the spruce towers in sombre majesty, or the laurel and 
ivy throw their dark mantle over the spectral rocks ; and 
there the bramble and the muscadine mingle their foliage 
and their fruit in wild and graceful beauty, crowning with 
tender tendrils and purple berries some tempest-riven or 
lightning-blasted trunk. For three or four miles this wild 
and savage scene stretches in unbroken continuity. ' ' 

. . . Yet of the Virginia we have thus described, beyond 
the dead and uninteresting levels of the East — of Piedmont 
Virginia, of the Valley of Virginia, of South-west Virginia — 
how little is known ! A Southern writer has ingeniously 
remarked: ''A Northern editor recently visited Virginia, 
and on his return wrote just such a descriptive account of 
the people and the country as we should expect from an 
explorer into an unknown region. Indeed, one of the 
most noticeable things of the civil war was the discovery 
of Virginia and the Southern States by the Yankees." 

While capital and emigrants stand gazing into this 
terra incognita, we may disclose aspects of it to yet an- 
other class of adventure and of travel. Fortunately, at 
the time of this writing, the attention of the country has 
been powerfully drawn upon Virginia, in the interest of 
its wonderful industrial resources and of a system of in- 
ternal improvements that has risen to national import- 
ance. It is reasonable that such a vivid and searching 
regard of the State must, in the end, suggest and develop 
all the elements of interest which it contains ; that the 
natural scenery which envelopes its resources will not be 
much longer slighted by the world ; that the tourist will 
follow in the track of adventurers in other pursuits, 



24 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

bringing a novel and important element of travel into 
the State, and discovering a new world of beauty, as well 
as new kingdoms of commerce and industry. It is, as 
seizing this rising interest in Virginia, to reveal to it, 
along with other aspects, the peculiar objects to which 
our book is devoted, that we consider our work well de- 
signed, and aided by time and opportunity in its claim 
upon the attention of the country. 

But even within the limits of our design we have so 
far directed the reader but to one of its topics — viz., the 
natural scenery of Virginia. We have yet to show an- 
other curious element of interest, which has so far ap- 
peared only in the title or announcement of our work, 
and which we have delayed in these introductory pages, 
beyond a bare reference in the first paragraph, for a 
separate treatment becoming its importance. Asso- 
ciated with the scenes we have rather mapped out than 
described are the various Mi7ieral Springs of Virginia. 
Here, bound in a natural scenery unsurpassed, fenced in 
by the mountains, is that wonderful sanitary enclosure, 
Virginia Medicatrix — an invitation for health to the 
world. It is an invitation which we propose to write 
out at some length. 

THE SPRINGS REGION OF VIRGINIA: THE SANITARIUM OF 

AMERICA. 

The territory in which the most famous of the mineral 
springs of Virginia are sought may be rudely described 
as a belt or crescent, averaging in width a double tier 
of counties, commencing at the Alleghany Springs in 
Montgomery county, running north through the counties 
of Monroe, Greenbrier, embracing Rockbridge and Au- 
gusta, and having its northern termination or horn at 



INTR OD UC TOR T. 2$ 

the thick group of springs in Bath county. This descrip- 
tion will answer our purposes here : it will be enlarged, 
of course, in the progress of our work ; but it occurs to 
us here to say that, within these boundaries, with an oc- 
casional excursion, the traveler may derive most of the 
interest to be found in the mountain region of Virginia. 

The boundaries desultorily sketched above, we repeat, 
contain by no means the entire Springs Region of Vir- 
ginia. Beyond these there are outlying mineral waters 
of value, to which the traveler may have ready access 
from the great routes of travel through the State. Indeed, 
the true extent of the Springs Region of Virginia is from 
near North Carolina, along the Alleghanies and their 
spurs, quite to the Potomac. The development of mineral 
springs along the line of the great Appalachian chain, and 
among its upheavings, extending from the various min- 
eral waters of comparatively recent discovery in South- 
west Virginia to the valuable waters of Capon and Berk- 
ley in the north; late explorations in the interest of such 
discoveries ; evidences already obtained of the general 
geological character of this entire range of country, all 
point to an extension of the Springs Region to embrace 
the entire eastern and western bases of the Alleghany. 

But for the present, and for the purposes of this work, 
we have selected as the Springs Region that where the 
fountains of mineral water abound — where there is, so to 
speak, a continuity of these -springs. It is a collection 
within limits on both sides of the Alleghany mountains, 
a comparatively small body of territory, but one so rich 
and various in mineral waters that it may claim the 
dQi\gTi2d.\on, pa?', excellence, of the Springs Region of Vir- 
ginia, and the merit of being a sufficient sanitaiium for 
all America. 

3 



36 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

Within the area described there is every variety of 
mineral water, a fountain for almost every conceivable 
disease. It is a body of country to which there is easy 
access from every portion of the Union. The North and 
the South, the East and the West, may meet here in the 
common pursuit of health, or at common resorts of pleas- 
ure. But what is most remarkable of the Virginia springs 
is their peculiar accommodation as a summer retreat from* 
those vast malarious districts which extend through the 
richest portions of the South and lie in the Valley of the 
Mississippi. The fertile regions of the Mississippi are 
liable to fevers (the cale7itiires of the Spaniards' time), 
and will always be so : wherever vegetation is prolific and 
exuberant — precisely in the richest portions of the South — ■ 
the wealth which Nature has bestowed is counterbalanced 
by chills and fevers. The escape from these malarious 
influences, and from the diseases which abound in sum- 
mer along all the tributaries of the Mississippi, is natu- 
rally to the springs and mountains of Virginia — that area 
of high land crowned with health-giving waters and beau- 
tified by the finest natural scenery of America. It is 
when the tide of the class of visitors we have described 
is fully turned into the Springs Region of Virginia that 
this portion of the State will be developed in its peculiar 
element of prosperity, creating sources of wealth as real 
as those to be found in any of the producing industries 
of the Commonwealth. The springs of Virginia have a 
future before them that can scarcely be measured. It 
will be realized when those tides of summer travel from 
the South which were previously extended to tours in the 
North, and were distributed from Saratoga and Cape 
May, are collected, and obtain their true direction to the 
mineral waters and mountain scenes of Virginia. The 



INTRODUCTORT. 27 

extent and peculiarities of the vast populations of the 
South naturally turned to these as a summer retreat ; the 
numbers, the wealth, the munificent habits of a class of 
visitors coming from the richest portions of the cotton 
and sugar regions of the South, will constitute the future 
prosperity of the springs of Virginia, and be the only 
limits to what are already the just expectations of the 
thoughtful and the enterprising. 

The only difficulty will be as to the comforts and ac- 
commodations of these places. This difficulty is already 
apparent. The hotel accommodations of the springs of 
Virginia are generally insufficient or imperfect or unat- 
tractive. People traveling for health or for pleasure — 
especially the latter, persons accustomed to the luxuries 
of cities — will not visit places, however blessed and 
adorned by Nature, where there is only a dreary hotel 
of whitewashed boards, and some thin cottages uniformed 
with wooden washstands, bare floors and cheap, crying 
bedsteads. Nor will they be satisfied where the un- 
traveled proprietor, in his coarse estimate of human 
needs, thinks that only certain quantities of food have to 
be put into the stomachs of his guests, insensible of the 
truth that the human stomach of the civilization outside 
of his mountains needs a delicate chemistry, and that the 
cuisine is really an art — not contemptible, as some vulgar 
satirists have supposed, but one belonging to the dignity 
of man. 

But even where the accommodations are finer and irre- 
proachable, the hotel establishments of the Virginia 
springs may be said generally to be conducted on false 
and defective principles. They are usually conducted 
on the narrow methods of short and exclusive leases ; or 
there is a monopoly of proprietorship that excludes from 



28 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

the grounds everything but its own ideas and fancies. 
The North builds at all its watering-places competitive 
hotels ; it sets up shops and competes for every want of 
its visitors ; and the entire hotel system at such places is 
conducted on the principle of adaptation to different 
classes of visitors — comfortable accommodations and ne- 
cessaries for all, and luxuries for those who wish them, 
and are able to pay for them. The hotel establishment 
of the Virginia spring is generally a single caravansary, 
with unifomnity of accommodations throughout — the nar- 
row, one-price system of the single hotel, and its stiff 
rows of cottages as alike as the barracks of a regiment, 
even to the pine furniture and the huckaback towels. The 
hotel proprietor of the Northern watering-place calculates 
that the man who is able and willing to spend his six 
dollars a day shall find occasion for it; while at the same 
time he does not neglect the privileges of another who 
does not want luxuries, who is not able to pay for a pri- 
vate parlor or a special chamber, and who does not 
demand a degree of accommodation beyond the average 
guest. The hotel proprietor of the Virginia springs, on 
the contrary, has but one price and one accommodation. 
There are no degrees of comfort, or, what is more, de- 
grees of privacy, such as are found in the hotel life of the 
North; none of its wonderful resources; in short, too 
much of the old country tavern as it existed before the 
modern hotel became one of the phenomena of our civili- 
zation, an '' institution," an empire and a study. 

The defective hotel establishment (generally speaking) 
of the Virginia springs is, doubtless, a check on the pros- 
perity of those places. Happily, however, it is a check 
that may be readily removed ; and the present disposi- 
tion, shown at the time of this writing, to improve and 



INTRODUCTORT. 29 

develop springs property, argues the commencement of 
an expansion of prosperity that will not be the least among 
the great elements of wealth in the State. The argmiient 
is simply this : There is no disposition now among the 
people of the Cotton States to go to the Northern cities 
or watering-places, they greatly prefer the Virginia springs ; 
QxAy give them, and advertise to them, the accomi7iodations , 
and they will come. It is said that in the summer of 
1869 there were two thousand visitors at one of these 
springs. There might as well t|^ve been ten thousand 
there from the great stock of summer custom — persons 
not only from the South, but from every part of the 
Union, who should find at these favored spots of Nature 
the comforts of home and the pleasures of gay society, 
and who would delight to linger there for at least four 
months of the year. 

Enterprise and better management are yet to be more 
fully learned by the proprietors of these places. In the 
lesson of the latter is the art of advertising. It is the 
custom of the Virginia springs to advertise in a few local 
papers — the lowest appreciation of advertising, a system 
of waste, since it addresses only those best calculated to 
know otherwise of subjects in their neighborhood, ne- 
glecting those who are removed from sources of informa- 
tion other than comes to them by the skill and enterprise 
of the advertiser. Such skill and enterprise are yet to 
carry a knowledge of the Springs Region of Virginia be- 
yond the contracted borders of special localities and to 
all parts of the country — the knowledge that here, acces- 
sible to the traveler from North, South, East and West, is 
a region more healthful than the fabled islands and more 
beautiful than Dreamland — a region where Nature has 
intermingled the fountains of health with the feasts of 
3* 



30 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST, 

the eye — where she presses to the lips of the invalid the 
living waters in the garnished and jeweled urns of moun- 
tain rock, and spreads before the eyes scenes lovelier and 
grander than those which imagination with remote and 
wandering steps pursues beyond seas and deserts. 

It is a striking knowledge : it cannot fail of effects. 
When the invalids who sigh in every corner of the coun- 
try shall know the true value of the mineral waters of 
Virginia ; when the aesthetic man of the North, the artist 
and the tourist shall Iparn that there is a natural scenery 
in Virginia which in the richness and variety of its ex- 
pression is so admirable, unsurpassed perhaps in its 
whole effects in any equal spaces of the world ; when the 
guide-book of Virginia is admitted into the current litera- 
ture of our times as freely and commonly as the preten- 
tious and more intricate vade mecum of Northern and 
European tours, — we may justly then expect that a bulk 
of travel and of wealth will be poured through this region 
not much less than that which has built up Long Branches 
and Saratogas, or that which, each summer, crosses the 
Atlantic to dissipate its curiosity and its money in foreign 
lands. The future of the Virginia springs is a magnificent 
speculation, and there are great prizes bound up in it. 

At present we are firmly persuaded that there is no 
field of investment in Virginia that presents such oppor- 
tunities as does the already awakened improvement of 
springs property. Nor do we regard this matter only in 
the light of benefits to a class of property-holders ; nor 
even exclusively in the interest of the numbers resorting 
to these places for health and pleasure. It is a real ele- 
ment of public prosperity — part of the economy of the 
resources of Virginia, and pertaining to the interests of the 
whole Commonwealth. The aggregate results to the 



INTR OD UC TOR T. 3 1 

whole State of the development of the Springs Region is 
no mean consideration. It is an interest not only to the 
philanthropist concerned with the ills of humanity, not 
only to men of sentiment and pleasure, but an interest to 
be cultivated in our public economy, our legislation, our 
system of internal improvements, our press, our literature, 
and to be shared by all who truly and in all respects 
desire the prosperity of Virginia. 



GUIDE TO THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

The two principal points of departure to the Springs 
Region of Virginia, and to the Natural Scenery inter- 
locked by these springs or adjacent to them — to that 
Field of the Tourist which we propose to traverse — are 
Staunton and Ly^ichburg. With these two points held in 
his mind, the reader may have a clear and comprehensive 
view of the Springs Region, and of the area of those places 
which may be most recommended to the attention of the 
tourist. If we look at the map, we find that the two 
points, Staunton and Lynchburg, are extremities of a fork 
of railroads, the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Orange 
and Alexandria, dividing from the main stem of travel at 
Charlottesville ; the real point of junction, however, being 
twenty-one miles farther east, at Gordonsville, the cars of 
the Orange and Alexandria and the Chesapeake and Ohio 
roads running on a double track from Gordonsville to 
Charlottesville. The geographical angle, however, is at 
Charlottesville; and it is this angle, one line running 
through Staunton toward the Ohio, the other through 
Lynchburg to Tennessee, which measures the Springs 
Region and that section of the great Mountain Belt of 
Virginia most interesting in its displays of scenery. 



32 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

We shall see now how we may penetrate the breadth 
of this country, and what are its remarkable divisions 
with reference to the distribution of its mineral waters 
and natural scenery. 

The access to Staunton from the North is by the great 
route of travel coming down the Orange and Alexandria 
road from Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New 
York, etc. The access to Lynchburg from the South and 
South-west is by the great routes of travel leading up to 
the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad from Knoxville, 
Chattanooga, Memphis, New Orleans, Montgomery, Mo- 
bile, etc. There is no difficulty in tracing out these broad 
and common routes on any ordinary map. 

The Springs Region of Virginia, which we have else- 
where roughly described, has its upper portion adjacent 
to Staunton and penetrated by the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Railroad, while its lower portion rests on the Virginia and 
Tennessee Railroad. Staunton and Lynchburg are thus 
the great converging and diverging points of the travel 
of this region. From Staunton we penetrate that part of 
this region most thickly populated with springs ; the most 
famous of these resorts being congregated within a limited 
space of which the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad fur- 
nishes all the points of detour. From Lynchburg we 
traverse the south-western tier of springs, less numerous 
than those which cluster in the upper region, but having 
the advantage of a more striking diorama of natural 
scenery ; the two elements of attraction being associated 
and both parallel to the Virginia and Tennessee road. 

Let us pass our finger along the lines of these two roads, 
and we shall enumerate the principal objects of interest 
the tourist has in either direction. 

From Staunton we may go by stages to Augusta Springs 



INTRODUCTORT. 33 

and Weyer's Cave. From Goshen, a little farther on the 
Chesapeake and Ohio road, by stages to Rockbridge 
Alum Springs, Rockbridge Baths and Cold Sulphur 
Springs. From Millboro', by stages, to Bath Alum and 
Warm Springs. From Covington, by stages, to Hot 
Springs and Healing Springs. From Alleghany, by 
stages, to Old Sweet and Red Sweet Springs. From the 
Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs, by stages, to Salt 
Sulphur Springs, etc., and, indeed, to almost every point 
within the diagram of the Springs Region. 

From Lynchburg, on the Virginia and Tennessee road, 
we have in succession the Alum Springs at New London, 
Coyner's, the Alleghany, the Montgomery White Sul- 
phur and the Yellow Sulphur (counting, as in the preced- 
ing paragraph, only those springs which are well known). 
All these are immediately on the rail or within a few 
miles of it. But we have something more than this tier of 
mineral waters. In the same direction, or within parallels 
of convenient travel, we have the Peaks of Otter, the 
Natural Bridge, the Salt Pond, Bald Knob, Puncheon 
Run Falls, Burke's Garden, the Natural Tunnel, etc. — 
a succession of scenes and curiosities adjacent to that of 
the springs of the South-west, and all having their points 
of detour from the Virginia and Tennessee road. - 

We have thus generally described the area of a prac- 
ticable tour in Virginia and the field of our present work. 
The natural division into two departments of the Springs 
Region contained in the angle of the railroads referred to 
is designed only as an element of simplicity in the geo- 
graphical description; for the intercommunication of 
these departments is direct and easy. The intercommu- 
nication is by a system of i-/^^<?-routes which cross the 
angle at various points, and make the whole country con- 

C 



34 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

tained in it practicable for the traveler. Thus he may 
cross the angle from the region of the Alleghany Springs 
or from that of the Montgomery White, both near Chris- 
tiansburg,^ to the Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs, and 
the watering-places yet north of it, by stages all the way, 
taking Salt Pond and Bald Knob in the route, and pass- 
ing by the Sweet and Red Sweet Springs; or he may 
cross lower down, from Salem, on the Virginia and Ten- 
nessee road; or yet lower down, from Bo7tsack! s (Coy- 
ner's Springs), taking in succession such objects of in- 
terest as the Natural Bridge, Lexington, Rockbridge 
Baths, etc., to Goshen, or any other point in the north- 
ern tier of springs. The details of these routes will be 
given hereafter as they occur in our journey. For the 
present, the subjoined table of routes may serve for gen- 
eral reference within the limits of the diagram we have 
marked out: 

Table of Routes in and about the Springs Region. 

From To Conveyance. Miles. 

Staunton Augusta Springs Stages 12 

Staunton Weyer's Cave Stages 17 

Staunton Goshen CJies. and Ohio R.R. 32 

Goshen Cold Sulphur Springs Stages i 

Goshen Rockbridge Alum Springs Stages 8 

Goshen Rockbridge Baths Stages 9 

* The angle of the Springs Region is yet more conveniently (in 
point of distance) crossed by travelers coming fro?ji the South-west 
at Newbern, where they may leave the railroad (Virginia and Ten- 
nessee) and proceed directly to the Red Sulphur or Salt Sulphur 
Springs in Monroe county, and thence to the whole northern range 
of mineral waters commanded by the Greenbrier White Sulphur. 
But this route leaves out the lower or south-western portion of the 
Springs Region, neglecting the valuable waters of the Alleghany and 
the Montgomery White, and is indicated only in cases where the 
traveler from points south of the Ohio river desires the nearest route, 
in miles, to points within what we have designated as the upper or 
more northern division of Virginia watering-places. 



INTRODUCTORT. 35 

From To Conveyance. Miles. 

Goshen Lexington Stages 21 

Goshen Natural Bridge ...Stages. 35 

Goshen Millboro' • Ches. and Ohio R.R. 8 

Millboro'. Bath Alum .Stages. ............ 10 

Millboro' Warm Springs Stages. 15 

Millboro' ..Covington Ches. and Ohio R.R. 29 

Covington Hot Springs. Stages 18 

Covington Healing Springs. Stages 15 

Covington. . . ■ Alleghany Station Ches. and Ohio R.R. 16 

Alleghany Old Sweet..... .Stages. 9 

Alleghany Red Sweet Stages 8 

Alleghany Wliite Sulphur Springs , .Ches. and Ohio R .R . 6 

White Sulphur Springs.. Blue Sulphur .Stages 22 

White Sulphur .Salt Sulphur. .. . .Stages. ... ......... 25 

White Sulphur. Red Sulphur. . Stages 40 

White Sulphur Red Sweet .Stages. 16 

White Sulphur Old Sweet .Stages 17 

White Sulphur Hot Springs Stages. 37 

White Sulphur .Healing Springs.. Stages 40 

White Sulphur Warm Springs Stages 42 

White Sulphur Bath Alum Stages 47 

White Sulphur Rockbridge Alum Stages 62 



Lynchburg. Natural Bridge Canal-boat. ........ 36 

Lynchburg. Lexington Canal-boat. 40 

Lexington Natural Bridge. Stages 14 

Lynchburg Forrest Depot Va. andTenn. R.R. n 

Forrest Depot New London and Alum Springs. .Stages 4 

Forrest Depot Liberty Va. andTenn. R.R. 14 

Liberty .Peaks of Otter Country road 12 

■ Liberty Bonsack's (Coyner's Springs). . . , Va. and Tenn. R.R. 22 

'Bonsack's Natural Bridge .Stages 30 

Bonsack's Lexington Stages 42 

Bonsack's. .Sweet Springs*. .Stages 47 

Bonsack's .White Sulphur, etc. etc Stages. ............ 64 

Bonsack's .... Salem. Va. and Tenn. R.R. 13 

Salem. .Sweet Springs Stages 36 

Salem White Sulphur, etc. etc Stages S3 

*Salem Shawsville. Va. and Tenn. R.R. 17 

•Shawsville Alleghany Springs .Stages 4 

.Alleghany Springs Puncheon Run Falls. Country road 8 

Shawsville. Montgomery Wh. Sulphur Station. Va. and Tenn. R.R. 6 

Montgomery White. . . . Christiansburg. .......... ...... Va. aftd Tenn. R.R. 3 

Christiansburg Yellow Sulphur Stages. 4 

Chairburg. New River White Sulphur .Stages 24 

Christiansburg Salt Pond Stages. 32 

Christiansburg Bald Knob .Stages. 32 

Christiansburg Salt Sulphur Stages 40 

* The Old Sweet and the Red Sweet are but one mile apart. 



36 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

From To Conveyance. Miles. 

Christiansburg ...Sweet Springs Stages 48 

Christiansburg. White Sulphur Stages 65 

Christiansburg .Newbern Va. and Tenn.R.R. 19 

Newbern ...Red Sulphur Stages 35 

Newbern Salt Sulphur Stages 52 

Newbern White Sulphur. Stages 77 

Newbern .Glade Springs Station.. Va. and Tenn. R.R. 70 

Glade Springs Station. . Saltville Branch railroad .... 8 

Saltville Jeffersonville Country road 18 

Saltville Burke's Garden. .Country road 26 

Glade Springs Station. .Bristol Va. and Tefin.R.R. 28 

Bristol Natural Tunnel. . . Country road 42 

Bristol. .Holston Springs. . ; .Country road 28 

The reader may easily trace out on the map the routes 
noted above as the exigencies of his journey may require. 
In this place — one of introduction — we design only to 
give a topographical coup (T ceil of the country we pro- 
pose to traverse on a pursuit of pleasure and in the garb 
of the tourist. 




CHAPTER 11. 



LYNCHBURG AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 



Lynchburg recommended as a Starting-point of a Tour in Virginia — Superior At- 
tractions of South-west Virginia for the Tourist — Obscurities of this Part of the 
State — Description of "the Hill City" — Mountain Scenery around Lynch- 
burg — A Royal Peculiarity of the Blue Ridge — Ancient Memories of Lynch- 
burg — The James River and Kanawha Canal — George Washington's Vision — 
The Great Water Line of Virginia — A Vision of Romance as well as of 
Empire — The Boast of New River — An Heraldic Ensign for " New" Virginia. 




YNCHBURG is not made the starting-point of 
our tour in Virginia by accident. We have 
made it so by a well-considered design. It is 
true that the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad leading out 
of this town does not command as large a number of the 
springs as does the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (a 
comparison of the value of the waters is not made in this 
place), but it has the advantage, and offers to the tourist 
the additional compensation, of a scenery lying about its 
summer resorts unequaled in the State. As our work is 
in both interests — that of the springs and that of the 
mountains and other natural wonders — our explorations 
are then commenced at Lynchburg, and the reader may 
imagine himself put down in sight of the blue mountains, 
and close to the most abundant fields for the tourist in 
our ''many-sided" Virginia. 

Of all the divisions of the State, South-west Virginia, 
we repeat, is undoubtedly that most interesting to the 
4 37 



38 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

tourist, and it, therefore, occupies an indisputable promi- 
nence in our work. It is comparatively but little known ; 
it has been neglected in most of the histories of the 
State ; and there is to this day a lingering popular notion 
in the comfortable homes of Eastern Virginia of a wild, 
impracticable country, and an unkempt people classed 
under the vague and harsh names of ''mountains" and 
''mountaineers," We may find on the map a well-de- 
fined trans-AUeghany district, composed of the south- 
western portion of Virginia, eastern portions of Kentucky 
and Tennessee, and the north-western portion of North 
Carolina, having remarkable similitudes of population, 
soil and climate, its inhabitants sympathizing in the com- 
mon complaint that they have been neglected by their re- 
spective State governments. They are called contemptu- 
ously "corner men ;" the systems of internal improvements 
in the States named have seldom reached to them ; they 
are to a great extent practically isolated, and they are yet 
remarkable for a curious primitive life. Of this country 
South-west Virginia is the imperial portion — a land of in- 
calculable wealth in minerals, and one, as we shall soon 
discover, containing a natural scenery to which the most 
famous tourist routes in Switzerland and Germany, com- 
bined, could scarcely furnish the parallel. And yet what 
must be the surprise of the traveler when, penetrating this 
beautiful and wonderful country, he finds it not only un- 
advertised to the world (his experience already being 
that at such an outpost as Lynchburg he could scarcely 
get directions for his journey away from the railroad), 
but that even among its own people it is almost unknown 
beyond the circles of their neighborhoods ; that persons 
residing within a few hours' ride of scenes which he had 
come hundreds of miles to see are ignorant of them, or 



LTNCHBURG AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 39 

can give nothing more than that laconic information 
which he hears so often in the mountains, that they had 
^' hear^fi teW of such places. A gentleman of Tazewell 
county, writing a local history of it, testifies: ''There is 
in all South-west Virginia scarcely a schoolboy who is 
not better acquainted with the history and geography of 
New York or Massachusetts than those of his own beautiful 
State of mountains and hills and valleys and streams ! ' ' 

The truth is, the neglect of their scenery lies at the 
doors of the Virginians themselves. If the obscurity of a 
country, however, is an invitation to the explorer and 
tourist, it should avail for South-west Virginia. Discov- 
eries of the artist, as well as of other adventurers, are 
already in progress there, and are opening up a country 
as grand in its scenic effects as it is wonderfully rich in 
the products of its fields and mines. Its mountain views, 
its waterfalls, its natural curiosities, its stupendous wofi- 
ders of rock-work, the revelation of the scenery of New 
river, is a combination that the sight-seer can find no- 
where else in the world. 

The author is not mistaken in filling so large a portion 
of his work with such a country. He returns to Lynch- 
burg, repeating his designation of it as the point of de- 
parture to the most interesting tour in Virginia. And 
now, with such method or order of treatment as the na- 
ture of his work will admit, he proposes not only to 
attempt descriptions of scenes visited, but, with less of 
literary ambition, to mingle with his sketches observations 
and guides useful to those who may come after him. 

The following general directions may avail the traveler. 
Persons from all points north of Baltimore may take the 
train which leaves New York city in the evening, reach- 
ing Washington City about 6 a. m. This train makes 



40 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

close connection with the Orange and Alexandria train, 
which arrives in Lynchburg at 4.20 P. M. The traveler 
may also come by the Bay route to Norfolk, and thence to 
Lynchburg over the Norfolk and Petersburg and South- 
side Railroads, without change of cars. There is only one 
passenger train daily over each of these roads. 

The town of Lynchburg is not without its interest — • 
even such as is admissible in these pages — and it should 
not be hurriedly passed. From ''the Hill City," as the 
burg is supremely spoken of by its people, the peaks of 
the Blue Ridge are already plainly visible, and the scenery 
that surrounds this really most delightful town — which 
boasts, with reason, the reputation of containing the best 
remnant of the old-fashioned and hospitable society of 
Virginia — invites the eye, and with its fine healthy airs 
would constitute itself a pleasing summer resort to one 
habituated to cities. There are some views around the 
town which might well repay the tourist a day's saunter 
on its hills, and which, perhaps, might be more highly 
esteemed if they were not quite so accessible. On College 
Hill, across which runs the south-western boundary of 
the city, we may obtain a fine view of the Peaks of Otter 
in the distance, faint, but as well defined as a cloud re- 
doubt ; while the lesser humped mountains to the north, 
their buttresses on the horizon, look like a caravan of 
camels scattered and reposing at evening on the dim out- 
line of a desert. 

A peculiarity of the Blue Ridge may be noticed here, 
and it is a royal one. It is the change of its robes, and 
especially of those gorgeous ones which it puts on at even- 
ing. All mountains seen afar are blue — distance lends 
this enchantment to the view — but this particular range of 
mountains in Virginia has a depth, a variety and a wealth 



LYNCHBURG AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 41 

of different shades of blue that are strikingly peculiar, 
and so much so that the color has given them their name. 
It is a blue of infinite richness, of a strange misty depth 
that baffles analysis, and as variable as the sunset sky that 
joins with it. Now mist-gilded, again light as the heaven's 
arch, again purplish, again indescribable as a mixture of 
blue and red, and all these phenomena taking place, per- 
haps, in half an hour's span of the sun, the garments of 
the mountain changed, swift as the weaver's shuttle that 
makes them in the light woven of earth and sky. The 
writer has repeatedly, while traveling near these moun- 
tains and struck by effects of color, found himself reflect- 
ing that if these effects were transferred to canvas, how 
art-critics would exclaim that they were fictitious and 
impossible ! So strange is nature — a strangeness so little 
recognized in our schools of criticism. Here where we 
stand on College Hill, just on the confines of Lynchburg, 
we were never more struck by this shading and shifting 
of colors as they appear under the sky of a May evening. 
The sun is sinking, and the two peaks of Otter, towering 
far over all around them, appear as pillars in the sky, while 
the clouds gathered at the gate of Evening are slowly 
passing into the infinite fields beyond. There are ranks 
of color in the scene from the foot-hills of the Blue Ridge 
to the horizon's verge. The near mountains are gray 
and mottled, for we see the soil and can count their ribs 
of rock ; next is a broken rank of haggard mountains, a 
pale, indescribable blue ; then, where it touches the sky, 
an outline of blue and gold and purple all around, fit 
hem of garment for the beautiful and majestic world ! 

We leave College Hill, wondering that this view of a 
summer evening has not drawn out a single person, be- 
sides our small party, to a walk more beautiful than in 

4« 



42 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST, 

any park of Northern city, and to a scene more glorious 
than what people sometimes travel or toil many miles to 
see. In another direction there is yet another view to re- 
ward us. About a mile and a half east of the city, where 
a little white-painted country church — Tyreeanna Chapel 
— stands by the grass-covered fortifications of the late 
w^ar, there is a view which some might think finer than 
that just described. For besides the mountains is a piece 
of water scenery; the island-dotted James, no longer 
broad -breasted and strong as when making its way through 
mountain passes, but lingering around its green islands, 
or lying careless and indolent in the peaceful landscape. 

These views are ornaments to Lynchburg, quite in con- 
trast to the mud-defiled and decayed town having its Rip 
Van Winkle sleep under the hills, and seeing which only, 
the traveler carries away the impression of a sloppy and 
uninteresting place, from which he has been glad to get 
away. 

It is a town of some ancient memories. It was estab- 
lished in 1 786 by an Irish emigrant of the name of Lynch. 
En passant, the term "Lynch law" was derived from his 
brother, a hot-tempered Irishman, who was a colonel in 
the Revolutionary war, and who was in the habit of deal- 
ing summarily with the Tories and desperadoes who in- 
fested this part of the country. Despite the uncertainty 
of the traditional origin of most popular appellations, the 
reader may be satisfied of the authenticity of this bit of 
philological information. Mr. Wirt, in his Life of Henry, 
says : "In 1792, there were many suits on the south side 
of James river for inflicting Lynch' s law." Almost ex- 
clusively from the immense tobacco trade of Virginia and 
North Carolina the town derived its growth, being raised 
from the lowliness and poverty of Lynch' s Ferry to the 



LYNCHBURG AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 43 

wealth and dignity of a city — from an insignificant James 
river warehouse to a position which commanded respect 
both in this country and Europe, as one of the best to- 
bacco markets in the world. But besides its tobacco 
interests, Lynchburg has but little trade or prosperity at 
present — although, as other Virginia towns, it is ''great 
in possibilities." 

The natural adaptation of the site of Lynchburg to 
ample water-power indicates especially the possibility of 
its importance as a manufacturing town. But this gift of 
Nature is as yet undeveloped, and is found to have been 
strangely abused, chiefly through the mistake in not locat- 
ing the James River and Kanawha Canal sufficiently high 
to secure the water-power. At the highest point of the 
city the water is brought up by double forcing pumps at 
the elevation of 253 feet above the level of the river, and 
these works, constructed in 1828, were then celebrated 
in a local paper as ''unprecedented in this country." 
The mistake in the location of the canal (which was 
opened to navigation in 1841) on the river level it has 
been attempted to remedy by raising the dams which 
afford the supply of water ; but this work was left un- 
finished at the breaking out of the war, and, owing to the 
financial distress of the Canal company, has not been 
since resumed. 

There is no doubt that the management of this great 
water-artery and the project of its extension to the Ohio 
have been embarrassed and delayed by the prospect of 
selling it out to French capitalists. Since the dissipation 
of this prospect, some disposition has been shown by the 
Canal company to repair their finances, and to resume 
the enterprise of past years. An attempt is now being 
made to fund their debt, under an act of the Legislature 



44 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

authorizing the mortgage of works to the extent of seven 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars ; but the progress is 
slow, and the local trade has so fallen off that it is 
scarcely adequate to pay the current expenses and the 
interest on the funded debt. It is obvious that while the 
work is local, all its operations and benefits must be to a 
great extent local ; and to complete its original design, 
which was to connect the Eastern and Western waters, 
and thus realize the full benefits which were predicated on 
the consummation of the work, it is equally clear that 
Virginia must look to capital from abroad, and to the 
interest which distant and opulent States of the Union 
have in an enterprise so large and far-reaching. Indeed, 
this canal is perhaps the most important unfinished im- 
provement in Virginia waiting upon that tide of capital 
which is expected to flow into the State upon the assur- 
ance of her political reconstruction, already so much ad- 
vanced by the late elections. Efforts have been recently 
noticed to revive interest in a work which has floated so 
long in imagination, and which repeats the idea of Wash- 
ington of joining the waters of the continent 

THE GREAT WATER LINE OF VIRGINIA. 

Even a traveler of ordinary views cannot help having 
his attention arrested by the visions of commercial empire 
which cling to the banks of the James and its tributaries. 
The Water Line of Virginia, in its conceptions, is one of 
those large works of the industrial enterprise of the age, 
which rises above the boundaries of statistical and com- 
mercial details to the dignity of a monument or a poem. 
The unsightly thread of water coursing along the James 
binds up a romance of modern commerce. Now the 



LYNCHBURG AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 45 

narrow canal extending from tidewater to Buchanan is an 
almost deserted thoroughfare. The boat-horn is now 
but seldom heard along its banks, and its waters are dis- 
turbed only by some small barges doing the droning and 
desultory trade of a few neighborhoods. But in this in- 
fant canal grown to a water-route, with a capacity as great 
as the waterfall and the feeders of its tributaries can sup- 
ply, extended to the Kanawha river, and reaching by its 
silver arm to the great system of Western waters, is des- 
tined to pour a mighty stream of commerce, contributed 
from the very heart of the agricultural empire of America. 
It is then that the State of Virginia itself will obtain its 
fullest development — when the coal and minerals of the 
State are brought together ; then that the hydrographic 
basins of the Mississippi and the Missouri shall be drained 
into the long-neglected waters of the Chesapeake, and its 
riches float into its heretofore stagnant harbors ; then 
that we shall behold a water-route in connection with, 
or rather supplemented by, the South-western system of 
railroads in Virginia, ' ' bringing in connection with the 
Chesapeake bay sixteen thousand miles of navigable 
rivers in the Mississippi Valley, and twenty-one thousand 
miles of railroad already in operation there" (see Pro- 
fessor Maury) ; bringing Norfolk two hundred and nine- 
ty-three miles nearer than New York is by present routes 
to all places on the Mississippi river that are situated 
above the mouth of the Illinois river ; bringing the 
cities on the Ohio one thousand to fifteen hundred 
miles nearer to New York, via Norfolk, than they are 
either via the Gulf or the Lakes ; giving the North-west 
a water-route through Virginia to the seaboard shorter 
and more practicable than the one by the Lakes and the 
Erie Canal to New York, or the other by the Mississippi 



4^ THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

river to New Orleans, with transhipment to New York, 
Liverpool and other parts ; in short, making Virginia 
the highway of the granary of America, and solving, at 
once, the greatest problem of the political economy of 
our country, and a most difficult question of sectional es- 
trangement and national polity. 

The future of the James River and Kanawha Canal is 
even a romance outside of its commercial aspects. It is 
not to be studied in a statistical closet ; it is not to be 
immured in dry figures. We have felt that we might 
admit it even to the interest of these pages as an 
element of beauty and of order springing out of the 
geographical position and physical relations of Virginia, 
that fall obviously under the eyes of the traveler. The 
Water Line of Virginia solves a question of the age 
scarcely less great than the Pacific Railroad. It will be 
a monument in the country. It will realize a vision that 
has been traditional in Virginia, which more than a 
hundred years ago prophesied that "whoever shall be 
master of the Ohio and the Lakes, shall become sole and 
absolute lord of North America. " And as a last romantic 
interest is the curious system of design by which Nature 
has invited and pointed out the work. 

"It," as Mr. Sheffey says, in a recent speech to an 
agricultural society in Virginia, "would solve the mys- 
tery what that grand, rugged, limpid stream. New fiver 
and Kanawha, with its successive falls, was made for. 
Without capacity for navigation or fish, it has been pro- 
nounced the most useless stream of its size in the world. 
And so it is unimproved ; but improved, it has no supe- 
rior in power and value. It intersects and cuts down to 
their bases every mountain barrier in the old State, from 
its source in the south-west to its mouth in the north- 



LYNCHBURG AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 47 

west. Falling over successive steeps, it is the great wa- 
terfall of Virginia, and aifords sites for a hundred 
Lowells. I hesitate not to say that the stream has more 
water-power from its source to its mouth than all the 
other rivers in the State combined. I assert, further, that 
it intersects more mineral wealth, more copper, lead, 
iron, zinc, salt and coal, than all the other rivers of the 
State together. ' ' 

But we close the page on a vision of wealth, in which 
there is yet as much of poetry as in the loveliest and 
grandest scenes that adorn the banks of those two rivers 
with which Nature has blessed Virginia — the James and 
the Kanawha. They are the two arms of the State — one 
laid on the mane of Ocean; the other beckoning in the 
distance to smiling and not unwilling fields to bring their 
treasures to the crouching wave. 







CHAPTER III. 



FROM LYNCHBURG TO THE NATURAL BRLDGE. 




Recent Neglect of the Natural Bridge by Sight-Seers — Directions of Route to it — 
On the Banks of the James — Balcony Falls — Views from the Stage Road — 
Scenery on North River — The Natural Bridge — First Sight of it — Curious 
Proportions of Art in its Structure — The Angle of Ascent — View from the 
Creek below — A Strange Imagination — Gates of Hell — The Natural Bridge 
compared with Niagara Falls — Two Illustrations of the Sublime in our Ameri- 
can Schools of Esthetics — Climbing the Natural Bridge — Testimony of 
an Eye-witness. 

HERE was a time when the Natural Bridge was 
esteemed among the greatest wonders of this 
continent. Of late years it has languished in 
obscurity and neglect, visited only by stray travelers from 
the Virginia springs, or, as we may judge, by frugal pic- 
nic parties from the near town of Lexington and the 
neighborhood — a conclusion drawn from a notice extra- 
ordinary posted at the hotel, that unless visitors patron- 
ized its larder they would be charged fifty cents a head 
for the privilege of looking at the Bridge ! The neglect 
of this sublime spectacle in the mountains of Virginia, 
once so attractive to the multitude of sight-seers, is diffi- 
cult to be explained when we consider the easy access to 
it — an access improved, too, by all that a beautiful and 
various natural scenery can bestow upon the traveler's 
route. 

The common route is by way of Lynchburg, thence 
48 



FROM LYNCHBURG TO NATURAL BRIDGE, 49 

thirty-eight miles on the James river and Kanawha Canal. 
The canal divides immediately at the foot of the Blue 
Ridge, a section being extended up the North River to 
the town of Lexington, and the other pursuing the banks 
of the James to Buchanan, short of which you can stop 
at the mouth of Cedar creek, within two miles of the 
Natural Bridge. From a few miles above Lynchburg the 
route by canal is adorned with mountain scenery of the 
richest and most various description, and the traveler 
passes slowly, going scarcely more than three miles an 
hour, through an almost continuous gallery of pictures. 
The writer on his trip had the advantage of a moon- 
lit night and of the company of some musical ladies. As 
the boat moves slowly and so easily that you can imagine 
it at rest, unless for passing objects, you see a horizon 
broken and pierced with mountain spurs; at one time 
under the shadow of great cliffs, again passing along 
silver-clad willows where the James flows placidly through 
meadows with the trophy of shivered moonbeams on its 
bosom; in the distance by mountains with twinkling fires 
on them, or the red glare of burning woods kindled by 
stray fires during the drought; and so, in this dioramic 
procession, with the music of sweet voices on the air and 
the melancholy wail of the boatman's horn occasionally 
intruding, we travel on to the rugged backbone of the 
Blue Ridge. 

Here, where the James river emerges from the moun- 
tains on the line of Amherst and Rockbridge counties, the 
scene is surpassingly picturesque. Overlooking Balcony 
Falls, the pyramid-shaped mountain throws in the night 
its pointed shadow in the mingled waters of the James 
and North rivers like a great spear-head to divide them. 
Where it terminates in the water it falls in a precipitous 
5 D 



50 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

cliff, the rocky face of which looked at once grand and 
weird as we saw it in the moonlight. A branch of the 
canal proceeds up the North river to Lexington, while 
that along the banks of the James, which we pursue to 
our destination, passes into a wilder scene. 

The accompanying views were taken by the writer at 
another time in daylight, and on a trip preferable to that 
of the canal-boat, in the circumstance of its being per- 
formed by day. The stage-road, coincident here with 
the canal — either conveyance being at the choice of the 
traveler — affords a succession of views by daylight of the 
most picturesque and romantic effect. As the traveler 
enters the gap of the Blue Ridge from the east, the winding 
courses of the stage-coach carry him up the mountain's 
side until he has gained an elevation of hundreds of feet 
above the James river, over the waters of which the zig- 
zag and rotten road hangs fearfully. On every side are 
gigantic mountains hemming him in; there are black 
ravines in the great prison-house; and the lengthened 
arms of the winds smite the strained ear with the sounds 
of the rapids below. While he looks at the distance, a 
mountain rivulet, slight and glittering from amid the 
primeval forest, dashes across his path, and, leaping from 
rock to rock, goes joyously on its way. 

On the North river the scenes are quieter. Emerging 
here, the traveler sees a beautiful and fertile country 
opening before him, while still westward the blue outlines 
of distant mountains in Rockbridge bound his vision. 
The water landscape is beautiful. Lovely valleys de- 
bouch upon the stream; there are peaceful shadows in 
the steel-blue waters, and on the broad shoulders of the 
cattle on the banks we see the drapery of the shadows 
of the trees beneath which they rest. The fisherman 




SCENE ON NORTH RIVER. 



Page 50. 



FROM LYNCHBURG TO NATURAL BRIDGE. 51 

standing leg-deep in the water can see his face as in a 
mirror. 

But at present our way does not lie through these 
scenes. The canal-boat is taking us along the James in 
the moonlit night, and by the time the day has broken 
we are within two miles of the Natural Bridge. A rick- 
ety team awaits us at the lock-house where we disembark. 
Through an air filled with golden vapor, and with the 
mists of the morning yet hanging in the trees by the way- 
side, we proceed on our journey. The old stage-coach 
lumbers along under the thick, overhanging boughs of the 
forest pines, which ever and anon scrape its top or strike 
in through the windows, scattering the dew-drops in the 
very faces of the passengers, or perhaps smiting their 
cheeks with their sharp-pointed leaves. 

THE NATURAL BRIDGE. 

The first view of the Bridge is obtained half a mile 
from it at a turn on the stage-road'. It is revealed with 
the suddenness of an apparition. Raised a hundred feet 
above the highest trees of the forest, and relieved against 
the purple side of a distant mountain, a whitish-gray arch 
is seen, in the effect of distance as perfect and clean-cut 
an arch as its Egyptian inventor could have defined. The 
tops of trees are waving in the interval, the upper half of 
which we only see, and the stupendous arch that spans 
the upper air is relieved from the first impression that it 
is man's masonry, the work of art, by the fifteen or 
twenty feet of soil that it supports, in which trees and 
shrubbery are firmly imbedded — the verdant crown and 
testimony of Nature's great work. And here we are 
divested of an imagination which we believe is popular, 



52 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

that the Bridge is merely a huge slab of rock thrown 
across a chasm, or some such hasty and violent arrange- 
ment. It is no such thing. The arch and whole interval 
are contained in one solid rock ; the average width of that 
which makes the Bridge is eighty feet, and beyond this 
the rock extends for a hundred feet or so in mural preci- 
pices, divided by only a single fissure, that makes a 
natural pier on the upper side of the Bridge, and up 
which climb the hardy firs, ascending step by step on the 
noble rock-work till they^ overshadow you. 

This mighty rock, a single mass sunk in the earth's 
side, of which even what appears is stupendous, is of the 
same geological character — of limestone covered to the 
depth of from four to six feet with alluvial and clayey 
earth. The span of the arch runs from forty-five to 
sixty feet w^ide, and its height to the under line is one 
hundred and ninety-six feet, and to the head two hun- 
dred and fifteen feet. The form of the arch approaches 
to the elliptical; the stage-road which passes over the 
Bridge runs from north to south, with an acclivity of 
thirty-five degrees, and the arch is carried over on a 
diagonal line — the very line of all others the most difficult 
for the architect to realize, and the one best calculated 
for picturesque effects. It is the proportions of Art in this 
wild, strange work of Nature, its adjustment in the very 
perfection of mechanical skill, its apparently deliberate 
purpose, that create an interest the most curious and 
thoughtful. The deep ravine over which it sweeps, and 
through which traverses the beautiful Cedar creek, is not 
otherwise easily passed for several miles, either above or 
below the Bridge. It is needful to the spot, and yet so 
little likely to have survived the great fracture, the evi- 
dences of which are visible around, and which has made 



FROM LYNCHBURG TO NATURAL BRIDGE. 53 

a fissure of about ninety feet through the breadth of a 
rock-ribbed hill, that we are at first disposed to reflect 
upon it as the work of man. It is only when we contem- 
plate its full measure of grandeur that we are assured it is 
the work of God. We have the pier, the arch, the studied 
angle of ascent ; and that nothing might be wanted in the 
evidences of design, the Bridge is guarded by a parapet 
of rocks, so covered with fine shrubs and trees that a 
person traveling the stage-road running over it would, if 
not informed of the curiosity, pass it unnoticed. 

But let him approach through the foliage to the side. 
More than two hundred feet below is the creek, appa- 
rently motionless, except where it flashes with light as it 
breaks on an obstruction in the channel ; there are trees, 
attaining to grander heights as they ascend the face of 
the pier ; and far below this bed of verdure the majestic 
rock rises with the decision of a wall, and the spectator 
shrinks from contemplating the grand but cruel depths, 
and turns away with dizzy sensations. But the most effec- 
tive view is from the base of the Bridge, where you de- 
scend by a circuitous and romantic path. Even to escape 
from the hot sun into these verdant and cool bottoms is 
of itself a luxury, and it prepares you for the deliberate 
enjoyment of the scene. Everything reposes in the most 
delightful shade, set off by the streaming rays of the sun, 
which shoot across the head of the picture far above 
you, and sweeten with softer touches the solitude below. 
Standing by the rippling, gushing waters of the creek, 
and raising your eyes to the arch, massive and yet light 
and beautiful from its height, its elevation apparently in- 
creased by the narrowness of its piers and by its projec- 
tion on the blue sky, you gaze on the great work of 
Nature in wonder and astonishment. Yet a hundred 
5 * 



54 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

beauties beckon you from the severe emotion of the sub- 
lime. When you have sustained this view of the arch 
raised against the sky, its black patches here and there 
shaped by imagination into grand and weird figures — 
among them the eagle, the lion's head, and the heroic 
countenance of Washington ; when you have taken in the 
proportions and circumstances of this elevated and wide 
span of rock — so wide that the skies seem to slope from it 
to the horizon- — you are called to investigate other parts 
of the scene which strain the emotions less, and are dis- 
tributed around in almost endless variety. Looking 
through the arch, the eye is engaged with a various vista. 
Just beyond rises the frayed, unseamed wall of rock ; the 
purple mountains stand out in the background ; beneath 
them is a rank of hills and matted woods enclosing the 
dell below, while the creek coursing away from them 
appears to have been fed in their recesses. A few feet 
above the bridge the stream deflects, and invites to a 
point of view of the most curious effect. Taking a few 
steps backward, moving diagonally on the course of the 
stream, we see the interval of sky between the great abut- 
ments gradually shut out j thus apparently joined or 
lapped over, they give the effect of the face of a rock, 
with a straight seam running down it, and the imagination 
seizes the picture as of mighty gates closed upon us. We 
are shut in a wild and perturbed scene by these gates of 
hell ; behind and around us is the contracted and high 
boundary of mountains and hills, and in this close and 
vexed scene we are for a moment prisoners. Now let us 
move across, step by step, to a position fronting where 
these gates apparently close. Slowly they seem to swing 
open on unseen and noiseless hinges j wider and wider 
grows the happy interval of sky, until at last wide open 



FROM LYNCHBURG TO NATURAL BRIDGE. 55 

Stands the gateway raised above the forest, resting as it 
were on the brow of heaven — a world lying beyond it, 
its rivers and its hills expanding themselves to the light 
and splendor of the unshadowed day. 

To an observer of both places a comparison is natu- 
rally suggested between the Natural Bridge and Niagara 
Falls in respect of the sublime and the beautiful ; and, 
indeed, as in this respect the two greatest works of Nature 
on this continent, they may well be used as illustrations 
in our American schools of aesthetics. The first is unique 
in its aspects of Nature like Art ; it is Nature widi the 
proportions of Art. In its expressions of power, in its con- 
centration of emotion, as when we look at it distinct or 
complete, it is truly sublime ; and its effect is alleviated 
(for it is a maxim in aesthetics that the sublime cannot be 
long sustained) by the picturesque scenery which sur- 
rounds it. It is a greater natural curiosity and more 
wonderful than Niagara, although it lacks the elements 
of sublimity which the other has in sound, and of the 
visible, actual struggle in which it displays the powers of 
Nature. Niagara is a living thing, while the Natural 
Bridge is monumental. The first represents the sublime 
as allied to the terrific — in contemplating it we are over- 
whelmed with a sense of our insignificance j while the 
Natural Bridge associates the sublime with the pleasing 
and curious, and, not transporting us as violently as Niag- 
ara, entertains us more equably, and dismisses us, we 
think, with more distinct and fruitful perceptions of the 
grandeur and beneficence and variety of Nature which 
have been distributed in the picture. 



S6 THE VIRGIN/A TOURIST, 



CLIMBING THE NATURAL BRIDGE BY THE ONLY SURVIVING 

WITNESS OF THAT EXTRAORDINARY FEAT.* 

I THINK it was in the summer of 1818 that James H. 
Piper, William Reveley, William Wallace and myself, 
being then students of Washington College, Virginia, de- 
termined to make a jaunt to the Natural Bridge, fourteen 
miles off. Having obtained permission of the president, 
we proceeded on our way rejoicing. When we arrived 
at the Bridge, nearly all of us commenced climbing up 
the precipitous sides in order to immortalize our names, 
as usual. 

We had not been long thus employed before we were 
joined by Robert Penn, of Amherst, then a pupil of the 
Rev. Samuel Houston's grammar-school, in the imme- 
diate neighborhood of the Bridge. Mr. Piper, the hero 
of the occasion, commenced climbing on the opposite side 
of the creek from the one by which the pathway ascends 
the ravine. He began down on the banks of the brook so 
far that we did not know where he had gone, and were 
only apprised of his whereabouts by his shouting above our 
heads. When we looked up, he was standing apparently 
right under the arch, I suppose a hundred feet from the 
bottom, and that on the smooth side, which is generally 
considered inaccessible without a ladder. He was stand- 
ing far above the spot where General Washington is said 
to have inscribed his name when a youth. The ledge of 
the rock by which he ascended to this perilous height 
does not appear from below to be three inches wide, and 
runs almost at right angles to the abutment of the bridge ; 
of course, its termination is far down the cliff on that 

* The narrative is from the pen of Williani A. Caruthers, and was 
originally published in the New York Knickej^bocker. 



FROM LYNCHBURG TO NATURAL BRIDGE. SI 

side. Many of the written and traditional accounts state 
this to be the side of the bridge up which he climbed. I 
beHeve Miss Martineau so states; but it is altogether a 
mistake, as any one may see by casting an eye up the 
precipice on that side. The story, no doubt, originated 
from this preliminary exploit. 

The ledge of rock on which he was standing ap- 
peared so narrow to us below, as to make us believe his 
position a very perilous one, and we earnestly entreated 
him to come down. He answered us with loud shouts 
of derision. At this stage of the business Mr. Penn and 
servant left us. He would not have done so, I suppose, 
had he known what was to follow, but up to this time 
not one of us had the slightest suspicion that Mr. Piper 
intended the daring exploit which he afterward accom- 
plished. He soon after descended from that side, crossed 
the brook, and commenced climbing on the side by which 
all visitors ascend the ravine. He first mounted the rocks 
on this side, as he had done on the other, far down the 
abutment, but not so far as on the opposite side. The 
projecting ledge may be distinctly seen by any visitor. 
It commences four or five feet from the pathway on the 
lower side, and winds round, gradually ascending, until 
it meets the cleft of rock over which the celebrated cedar 
stump hangs. Following this ledge to its termination, it 
brought him thirty or forty feet from the ground, and 
placed him between two deep fissures, one on each side 
of the gigantic column of rock on which the aforemen- 
tioned cedar stump stands. This column stands out from 
the bridge, as separate and distinct as if placed there by 
Nature on purpose for an observatory to the wonderful 
arch and ravine which it overlooks. A huge crack or 
fissure extends from its base to the summit ; indeed, it is 



SS THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

cracked on both sides, but much more perceptibly on 
one side than the other. Both of these fissures are thickly 
overgrown with bushes, and numerous roots project into 
them from trees growing on the precipice. It was be- 
tween these that the aforementioned ledge conducted 
him. Here he stopped, pulled off his coat and shoes and 
threw them down to me. And this, in my opinion, is a 
sufficient refutation of the story so often told, that he went 
up to inscribe his name, and ascended so high that he 
found it more difficult to return than to go forward. He 
could have returned easily from the point where he dis- 
encumbered himself, but the fact that he did thus pre- 
pare- so early, and so near the ground, and after he had 
ascended more than double that height on the other side, 
is clear proof that to inscribe his name was not, and to 
climb the bridge was, his object. He had already in- 
scribed his name above Washington himself more than 
fifty feet. 

Around the face of this huge column, and between the 
clefts, he now moved backward and forward, still as- 
cending as he found convenient foothold. When he had 
ascended about one hundred and seventy feet from the 
earth, and had reached the point where the pillar over- 
hangs the ravine, his heart seemed to fail him. He 
stopped, and seemed to us to be balancing midway be- 
tween heaven and earth. We were in dread suspense, 
expecting every moment to see him dashed in atoms at 
our feet. We had already exhausted our powers of en- 
treaty in persuading him to return, but all to no purpose. 
Now it was perilous even to speak to him, and very diffi- 
cult to carry on conversation at all, from the immense 
height to which he had ascended, and the noise made by 
the bubbling of the little brook as it tumbled in tiny cas- 



FROM LTNCHBURG TO NATURAL BRIDGE. 59 

cades over its rocky bed at our feet. At length he 
seemed to discover that one of the clefts before mentioned 
retreated backward from the overhanging position of the 
pillar. Into this he sprang at once, and was soon out of 
sight and out of danger. 

There is not a word of truth in all that story about our 
hauling him up with ropes, and his fainting away so soon 
as he landed on the summit. Those acquainted with the 
localities will at once perceive its absurdity ; for we were 
beneath the arch, and it is half a mile round to the top, 
and for the most part up a ragged mountain. Instead 
of fainting away, Mr. Piper proceeded down the hill to 
meet us and obtain his hat and shoes. We met about 
halfway, and then he lay down for a few moments to 
recover himself of his fatigue. 




CHAPTER IV. 
THE PEAKS OF OTTER. 

Journey to the Peaks — Experiences by the Wayside — Panoramic Views — Picture 
of a Feudal Proprietorship — Grape-growing in the Mountains — Toilsome As- 
cent — On the Peak — Standing up in the great Hollowness of the Sky — Pecu- 
liar Sublimity of the Peaks of Otter — A Religious Reflection on the Scene — 
Bird of the Mountain— The Sublime Effect of a Striking Contrast — The Little 
Earth and the Great Heavens. 




HE Peaks of Otter are situated in Bedford 
county, Virginia, rising from the Blue Ridge, 
which here runs to the right and left across the 
horizon for many miles. They take their name from 
Otter creek, which courses near them. They are the 
highest peaks of the Blue Ridge, and are generally ac- 
counted — although recently there has been some question 
of their comparative elevation — the highest mountains in 
Virginia. The estimated height of the northern Peak, 
which is the more elevated, is forty-two hundred feet 
above the plain, and fifty-three hundred and seven feet 
above the level of the sea. The more sharply-pointed 
Peak to the south is, however, more commanding and 
more romantic, and is the one usually visited. 

From the town of Liberty, twenty-five miles on the 
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad from Lynchburg, the 
turnpike to Buchanan leads through a gap high up on the 
side of the mountain we have described, and a country 
road deflects to the summit of" the Peak. The distance 
60 ' ■ 



THE PEAKS OF OTTER. 6 1 

is good fourteen miles. And here we may give an admo- 
nition to the traveler that should avail him in all the 
Mountain Region of Virginia : it is, never to lose time or 
temper by asking distances of the country-people. If he 
does so he will be driven out of his wits by the incon- 
sistencies and absurdities of the answers given ; and it is 
not only ignorant people who will innocently misinform 
and annoy him, but it is remarkable that the most intelli- 
gent persons residing in this country blunder most unac- 
countably as to distances, and that on roads familiar to 
them. ''Just over the mountain" is generally ten miles; 
and "a piece further" may be half a mile or five miles. 
When at Liberty I mounted for the Peak, I was told by 
the nimble barkeeper at the hotel that it was ten miles 
away : the fat proprietor, who shuffled in slippers, said 
fifteen. I had ridden a mile out of town when I met a 
wagoner and asked the distance to the Peak. "It's nigh 
onto nine mile." I had traveled five miles farther when 
I accosted a man on horseback: "How far to the top 
of the mountain?" "It is eleven miles," he said, sol- 
emnly. I was halfway up the mountain when I discov- 
ered a sleek negro at the door of a cabin, to whom I 
repeated the incessant question. "Yes, sir," with an 
air of importance — then throwing up his eyes to the sun 
as if making an astronomical calculation — "yes, sir : it's 
just exactly about twenty-five 7niles P'' I answered nothing 
and rode on. I have no commentary to make, except 
the assurance that each answer was given me precisely as 
recorded, and that I have related an actual experience. 

But the road, however variously described as to dis- 
tances, and although for three or four miles it appeared 
to be in the bed of a mountain torrent, was never weari- 
some or dull for a moment. From the time I rode out 
6 



62 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST, 

of the village of Liberty the grand Peak was constantly- 
visible just before me, and it was a curious and vivid in- 
terest to notice how at each stage of the journey the 
mountain changed its envelope. It was constantly pre- 
senting new vestures and aspects and dyes as mile by mile 
I approached it. I could see the blue surface lifted up 
before me become brown as I rode toward it ; then it 
ripened into rock and shrub ; until at last yet closer I 
could see the naked scars and the wrinkled soil of its 
sides. On each side of my bridle, as I rode over the 
warm plain to the foot of the mountain, magnificent 
scenes stretched away. Broad fields palpitated under 
the sun j on the foot-hills were bands of young tall oaks 
standing as firm and even as regiments of infantry ; while 
on the mountain slopes and far up to their summits, shad- 
ows of clouds swept and broke upon the unmoving ranks 
of the forest. It was a scene full of animation ; Nature 
had bestowed everything upon it, and a beautiful day 
had filled it with the images of fancy. 

At last I am ascending the mountain through a succes- 
sion of panoramic views. The road at one time seems 
going away from the Peak ; now it bends back with new 
determination ', now it flattens out on an observatory, 
where I pause with involuntary exclamations as I see the 
country below rolled out, and far beneath me the red 
stripe of road by which I have come. It is a wild 
and desolate country immediately around me. I ride 
for miles with no sign of human life by the roadside 
but what some hut contains ; some dogs bark at the 
horse's heels, and an old, half-nude negro glares at the 
traveler with savage curiosity, ceasing his work in a half- 
scratched field of withered corn. Suddenly, and as if by 
a magical translation, the road that has hesitated in such 



THE PEAKS OF OTTER. 63 

scenes, comes out upon a broad shoulder of the mountain, 
in sight of a pleasing mansion, and where are noticed, 
with infinite surprise, all the evidences of the broad and 
garnished farm of a wealthy planter. 

It was indeed a surprising revelation to find displayed 
here something like a vision of feudal proprietorship. I 
had got to the "gap" of the Peak before I was aware. 
Fenced in by hills, it affords no view of the country be- 
low, and thus gives no idea of its elevation save by com- 
parison with the yet unsealed top of the mountain ; and 
I had thus insensibly ridden from an almost savage sur- 
rounding into a scene of broad acres and cultivated rural 

life. Mr. H , a well-known gentleman of Virginia, 

owns three thousand acres here, and has a numerous ten- 
antry. It was a picture of the old plantation life of Vir- 
ginia hid away in the niche of a mountain ; the romantic 
home of a modern feodary suspended in the clouds. 
The hospitality of the proprietor detained me ; and it was 
indeed as refreshing as it was unexpected to dismount at 
a house which would have been of no mean pretensions 
even among our lowland gentry, crossing a cultivated 
lawn to it, and noting evidences around of a thrifty indus- 
try as well as of a refined taste. The name of the place 
is "Bellevue." But there is no view, so concealed is the 
place in the mountain gap, except the Peak, which stares 
into the sky and throws a shadow down sharp as a spear- 
head at evening. The neck of land which constitutes the 
farm is well cultivated, tobacco being the staple produc- 
tion. There were no workmen in the fields ; and their 
absence there was painfully explained to me when a few 
minutes later there passed the house a funeral procession 
of negroes, in their decentest attire, following a short 
pine coffin placed in a rude wagon, that drove slowly to 



64 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

a grave dug in the obscure side of the mountain that 
perhaps had bounded all that the dead one ever knew of 
the life of this world. 

Mr. H , a representative of the best of the intelli- 
gent large land-proprietors of Virginia, instructed and 
interested me greatly in descriptions of resources of the 
mountain region which he so eminently occupied. I 
found that the people were developing a new industry 
here in the raising of fruit, and especially in the culture 

of the grape. Mr. H had just sold for fourteen 

hundred dollars the apples he had gathered from trees 
scattered about in the fields, and hitherto grown without 
the least attention. He was now about to make a large 
experiment in the production of wine from the Joplin 
grape. The description of the country about the Peaks 
of Otter answers, in respect of the grape, for nearly the 
whole length of the Blue Ridge in Virginia. On the sunny 
slopes of these mountains there is said to be precisely 
the conditions needed for the growing of wine -making 
grapes. The air is dry, the warmth entirely sufficient, 
the soil suitable ; so that there would be no mildew, the 
fruit would ripen at the proper time, and the crop would 
be abundant. These were the conditions indispensable 
to the production of the juicy wine-grape. The want of 
proper geniality and warmth in the climate of the North 
disables that country from producing the wine-grape, 
while it succeeds well in producing the solid table- 
grape. On the other hand, south of Virginia, there is 
danger of mildew from the dews and fogs. Mildew is 
the great enemy of the grape, and it cannot flourish 
where the causes of the disease prevail. On the sunny 
slopes of the Blue Ridge there is no danger of this evil ; 
and I was assured that there the wine-grape could be pro- 



THE PEAKS OF OTTER. 65 

diiced to perfection, and to an extent that would soon 
make a new feature of industry and a new resource of 
wealth in the State. But a truce to speculations induced 
by the wayside ; although here, as elsewhere on a tour 
devoted to scenery, the writer has yet dismounted to 
pluck some chance new blossom of the wealth of Virginia. 
Refreshed by some glasses of home-made wine, we 
soon returned to the main object of our journey. From 

the portico of Mr. H 's house could be plainly seen 

the top of the mountain we had come to explore, pro- 
jected into the sky, garnished with a cap of dark, rusty 
rock that ran up to a point and nodded over the preci- 
pice. It was a mile and a half by road and by path to 
the mountain's top. The writer had been joined at Mr. 

H 's by a young physician of the neighborhood, and 

by a student from the University of Virginia, who were 
as anxious as himself to climb to the narrow and perilous 
summit. Our horses struggled a mile up the mountain 
side ; we had then to hitch them and complete the ascent, 
half a mile farther, by a path so steep and so badly 
graded that we had to assist our uncertain foothold by 
grasping the boughs of trees within reach. It was hard 
work under a July sun. There was nothing to repay us 
in intermediate views ; we might mark our elevation by 
imperfect glimpses of some red hills below, but the fol- 
iage was too thick to afford any extent of view, and before 
us was nothing but the rugged inclined plane, the rotten 
ascent up which we were toiling. It was interesting, how- 
ever, to notice the steady diminution of the trees as we 
ascended ; we had ridden through stately trees a little 
while before, now we were among stunted pines and 
dwarfed oaks, the limbs of the latter crooked and twisted 
by storms that for years had tortured and deformed them. 
6 * E 



66 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

In this narrow scene we toiled up to the great overhang- 
ing rocks of the mountains, reahzing nothing of the view 
that awaited us. The path here is yet obscure ; it winds 
up under a shelf of rock \ it is overhung and shut up to 
the very last moment ; and then a single step, as it were, 
a single curve, and the whole scene bursts upon us, an 
infinite apparition ! 

It is the suddenness of the grand and limitless revela- 
tion that first seizes and alarms the soul. There was a 
loose slanting board, a remnant of an old walk, at the 
last turn of the path, crouching on which I had to climb 
to a huge boulder. There, yet on all-fours, faint, dizzy, 
trembling, I clung to the slippery summit, finding sud- 
denly that it was all that was left me beneath the skies ! 
I felt suspended under the dome of the heavens. I could 
not rise to my feet, I could not survey the scene around 
me ; prostrate and almost breathless, I clung to the small 
space on the crown of rock on which I had been lifted 
up as on a pinnacle into the limitless air. It was only 
after the suggestion of one of my companions that I 
should not look into the awful chasm below, but should 
relieve the eye by resting it on the milder ascent up which 
I had come, that I regained command of myself, and was 
able to rise to my feet and survey what was around me. 

It is the exceeding keenness of the summit of the Peaks 
of Otter that gives an effect of sublimity perhaps un- 
equaled by any mountain view in the world. There are 
many mountains higher than where we stood ; there are 
others, it may be, with more merit or interest in the sur- 
roundings ; but none, we imagine, which produce so terri- 
bly sublime an emotion of suspension in the sky. There 
is a rude, circular arrangement of immense rocks on the 
top of the mountain, suggesting the crater of an extinct 



THE PEAKS OF OTTER. 67 

volcano, and there are no less than three points that 
thrust up, on any one of which we may stand with no 
more room beneath the great blue heavens than that on 
which the feet are planted. The traveler stands up in 
the great hollowness of the sky, alone, naked in the dead 
air. It is not the common intoxication of a pinnacle ; it is 
the awful sublimity of an insecure suspension, the steps to 
which, looking from a summit that nods on one side over 
the world below, his imagination does not retrace and his 
eyes do not see. 

I had to get accustomed to the narrow and impending 
observatory before I could take in or enjoy the scene it 
commanded. It was a scene whose grand boundaries 
were even with the sky. Here was Bedford county at our 
feet, a patchwork of farms, tufted and tasseled with beau- 
tiful forests. Here were mountains all around us ; some 
near, gashed into red clay, their bare, macerated sides 
plain to the vision ; on others we could see the mottled 
soil and plumes of the forest ; others, clothed with the 
hues of distance, gave only smooth surfaces to the eye as 
they joined the sky. There were mountains of all im- 
aginable shapes — flat-top mountains, peaked mountains, 
every form of the cone and the pyramid, perfect, broken, 
or truncated. There was the curiously-shaped *' House 
Mountain" near Lexington, then far to the south-west, 
a grotesque, misshapen pyramid, a broken fang on the 
pearly crust of sky. Out of all this confusion ran away 
steadily the great ranges of the Alleghany and Blue 
Ridge, giving order and disposition to the wild scene, 
and tracing out of it the mountain system of Virginia. 

No wonder that John Randolph's infidelity was shaken 
in^such a scene. There were the prints of the Great Cre- 
ator's hands on the earth. A world was at our feet to 



6S THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

display design ; the strong sun was hung up in the infinite 
air ; a thousand beauties were kindled around us ; world 
and sky were in the garments of a new creation — the au- 
tora of a new and sublime significance ; 

" And luminous beyond the golden mist, 
Something that looked to my young eyes like God." 

Sounds from the world below traveled up to us with 
strange distinctness. I could hear the tinkle of a cow- 
bell a mile and a half away. Some buzzards, attracted 
by the unwonted spectacle of human figures on the Peak, 
sailed around us, gradually contracting the circle as im- 
pelled by curiosity, until they swept almost within pistol 
shot. I am sure that I abuse neither my own imagination 
nor the credulity of my readers in saying that I could 
hear the flapping of their wings in the dead, stagnated air ! 
Wearied by their circuits, continued for half an hour, 
several of these monstrous birds — than whom, despite their 
uncleanliness, there are no more graceful travelers of the 
air, none that move through it with slower and more 
magnificent stroke — perched on a cliff below us, and 
yawned at us by an occasional motion of the wings. 

There was one reflection in the scene which remains to 
be indicated, and which will live always in the writer's 
recollections of it. Looking down upon the map of 
country below us, the mind is se'zed with the reflection, 
How conventional are our ideas of spaces and of magni- 
tudes ! The speed of modern travel has no more re- 
markable fact than the change it has wrought in our 
ideas of distance — a change in some respects painful and 
unpoetical, for in it we have lost some of the dearest 
images, and instead of the '^wide, wide world," the tra- 
dition of our childhood, we find ourselves reflecting in 



THE PEAKS OF OTTER. 69 

this age of steam and telegraphs, How small, in what nar- 
row spaces are now held all the habitations of men ! The 
reflection comes to us with additional pangs on this wild 
platform of Nature's observatory. The great stretch of 
territory from the remotest ranges of the Alleghany, 
sweeping down to the North Mountain away down in 
Shenandoah county, extending to the "backbone" of the 
mountains separating Eastern and Western Virginia, lies 
at our feet in miniature — a patch of a map that we might 
sweep over with a motion of the arm. The zigzag turn- 
pikes along the mountain sides, where the stage-coach 
winds its way day and night for successive days to reach 
its destination, are but threads swept by a single glance 
of the eye ; a distant train on the Virginia and Tennessee 
Railroad appears but a child's toy; the space of a whole 
day's journey seems but a few strides. The poetry of 
distance is gone ; but with the pain of the diminution of 
the theatre of life and of man's empire of industry at our 
feet, there was yet a moral usefulness in the scene, and, 
in the language of another observer, ' ' I was impressively 
reminded of the extreme littleness with which these things 
of earth would all appear when the tie of life which binds 
us here is broken, and we shall be able to look back and 
down upon them from another world ! " 

Our eyes involuntarily turn upward. It is the same 
canopy of blue sky ; that has not changed, that not di- 
minished ; and our idea of magnitude is more than satis- 
fied. We are lost in the sensation of immensity, raised into 
God's universe, and entranced with the thought that when 
the earth beneath our feet shall have passed away and 
the mountains melted down like wax, there shall still 
remain room, infinite room, for the habitations of man 
and the excursions of his spirit ! 




CHAPTER V. 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS AND SURROUNDINGS. 




Route to the Alleghany Springs — At the Heart of the Mountains of Virginia- 
Access to the Springs, North and South — The Water sui ge?ieris, and the 
most elaborate in the World — Analysis of the Water — Medical Guide to its 
Uses — Wonderful Effects of the Water — The Scenery around the Springs the 
most Remarkable in Virginia — Puncheon Run Falls — Romance of its Dis- 
covery — Climbing the Mountain — A Rough Journey — Sublimity of the Falls 
— Descent Two Thousand Feet — Scenes on Puncheon Run — " Purgatory" — 
The Deserters' Fortress — Fisher's View — Looking from the Mountain's Top 
— 'Characteristics of Mountain Views — Sublime Effect of a View of and beyond 
the Alleghany, 

E do not hold ourselves under any obligation to 
take the objects of our travels in strict geographi- 
cal succession. We would be but poor tourists to 
do so. So from the Peaks of Otter, remounting the cars 
at Liberty and passing objects of interest to which we 
meditate return, we are rapidly carried fifty miles on 
the railroad to what is likely to become, on various ac- 
counts, the most famous of the summer resorts of Vir- 
ginia — the Alleghany Springs in Montgomery county. It 
is not only for the value of its incomparable waters that 
we thus speak of this resort, but for its fortunate position, 
holding, as it does, the key to the finest scenery and one 
of the greatest natural wonders of Virginia. 

We leave the railroad at Shawsville,* the springs being 
three miles distant. Here, at the railroad station, the 
■5^ Since named Alleghany Station, in consideration of the springs. 
70 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS. 7 1 

Springs' managers have erected a commodious and pleas- 
ant hotel — an outcropping, in fact, of their increased scale 
of accommodations, keeping pace with increased patron- 
age — it being designed as a convenience for visitors who, 
leaving the cars in the night-time, may choose to defer 
the brief remainder of the trip by stage-coach until next 
morning, or may possibly be detained by the swollen 
mountain streams. In any circumstances, however, the 
traveler will not regret staying over night at this hotel, 
for the scenery through which he is to ride to the springs 
should be seen by daylight. To traverse the beautiful 
valley leading up to the springs' hotel, and to see over 
the mist-fretted tops of the mountains which overhang the 
way the sun coming up ''with all his traveling glories 
round him," his early rays working into heavenly alchemy 
the steel-blue mountain streams, is a reward not to be 
despised, and a fitting preface to pictures which the 
Alleghany holds yet in reserve for the happy visitor. 

' ' The Mountains of Virginia' ' is a vague term in the 
popular geography of the State. Wherever is found a 
sulphur spring bubbling from a foot-hill, or not even 
within the skirmish-line of our great mountain ridges, we 
have advertised in the newspapers a ^^ mountain resort," 
as if this elevation of figure could catch and cheat the 
imagination of the heat -burdened inhabitants of the low- 
lands. But the writer is now quite well satisfied that he 
is really in the mountains of Virginia, at the very heart 
of them, situated as he is now on the Roanoke river, in 
the county of Montgomery, at the eastern foot of the 
Alleghany Mountains — ^the most elevated region between 
the Atlantic Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. Here he 
reposes (for writing is scarcely a labor in such surround- 
ings) in the midst of the numerous and lofty "spurs" of 



72 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

the king of mountains — the hotel of the Alleghany Springs 
and its picturesque ranges of cottages occupying smooth 
and undulating hills, which descend to a lawn extending 
to the banks of the tuneful and trout-inhabited stream 
that flows far away into the sounds of North Carolina. 
And yet this place, apparently so remote and intricate, is 
within three miles of the Virginia and Tennessee Rail- 
road, is accessible by continuous railroad travel from the 
four points of the compass,. and invites its visitors from 
every city of the Union, not only to see its abounding 
scenery, but to drink of a water which we shall presently 
describe as unequaled in any of the cunning of Nature's 
pharmacy. By the rapid motion of the steam car, the 
valetudinarian of Boston, escaping from the dark and 
dense rheumatism-and-consumption-provoking fogs of 
the North, and the invalid of New Orleans, fleeing from 
the malaria of the Mississippi swamp, may (starting at 
the same time) in seventy hours find themselves socia- 
bly seated side by side at the foot of the great Appalach- 
ian chain of mountains, at an elevation of two thousand 
feet above the level of their homes, breathing an air 
more salubrious and bracing than that of Montpelier, 
and able to shake hands literally across the line of 36° 
30', that being the exact latitude of the springs. 

The Alleghany Springs is about the extreme of the 
southern tier of Virginia watering-places scattered along 
the route of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. The 
water is sui generis, peculiar, and the most elaborate min- 
eral water in the world, containing nearly thirty elements, 
many of them possessing active medical properties. Sul- 
phur water is cheap in Virginia; we have all quantities 
and varieties — white, red, yellow, salt, cold, etc. The 
Alleghany water, which is of comparatively recent dis- 



ALLEGHANT SPRINGS, 73 

covery, is most remarkable for the active salts of lime 
and magnesia; but an analysis which lies before me 
(most skillfully made in a Northern laboratory) shows 
that it exceeds in the number and variety of its elements 
the famous waters of both the Bedford Springs in Penn- 
sylvania and the Congress Spring at Saratoga. Of metals 
(which, with the exception of iron, are scarcely ever 
found in the mineral waters of Virginia) there are no less 
than seven ; of the alkalies, three ; of the earths, six ; and 
of acids the same number, in intimate chemical combi- 
nation, many of them forming salts of known medicinal 
virtues. Indeed, it is not a curious reasoning, but one 
drawn strictly from analogy, that Nature, which never 
does anything in vain, and which no doubt has a design 
in its pharmacy as in its other workshops, has, in elabo- 
rating a compound containing so many elements, many 
of them known to possess active medical properties, fujr- 
nished a potent remedial agent for the uses of afflicted 
and unhealthy man. Experience has already taught the 
uses of the water for those commonest afflictions of human 
flesh, the diseases of the stomach and liver, and it is 
already famous for its specific conquest, its ''sovereign 
cure," of that Protean monster, dyspepsia — our "Ameri- 
can disease." But it is yet only in the infancy of its fame : 
there are other encouraging inferences as to its therapeutic 
qualities, which the writer describes below, after having 
named the crowning glory of the water as he has experi- 
enced it in his own flesh — its specific tonic action upon 
the various organs concerned in the vital function of 
digestion. 

In the Springs Region of Virginia the sulphur waters 
in their various modifications are common : there are 
thermal waters of temperature ranging from 62° to 106°; 
7 



74 



THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 



the chalybeates, simple and compound, are found in many 
places; while of the aluminous or acidulated aluminous 
chalybeates there are three or four varieties. 

But the Alleghany Springs belong to the rarer class of 
what are known as saline waters, and yet with a variety 
or elaboration that renders them peculiar. 

The annexed analysis of the water was made by Dr. F. 
A. Genth, of Philadelphia: 

ONE GALLON, SEVENTY THOUSAND GRAINS, CONTAINS: 



Sulphate of Magnesia.. 50.884290 grains. 

Do. Lime.. .. ..115.294022 " 

Do. Soda o 1. 717959 " 

Do. Potassa.... 3.699081 " 

Carbonate of Copper.. 0.000359 " 

Do. Lead. ..... 0.000569 " 

Do. Zinc...... 0.001713 " 

Do, Iron ...... o. 157049 " 

»Do. Manganese 0.060617 *' 

Do. Lime...... 3.613209 " 

Do. Magnesia.. 0.362362 ** 

Do. Strontia. . 0.060536 " 

Do. Baryta. . . . 0.022404 " 

Do. Lithia....- 0.001679 " 



Nitrate of Magnesia. . . 3.219562 grains. 

Do. Ammonia... 0.559412 " 

Phosphate of Alumina. 0.025549 " 

Silicate of Alumina. .. . 0.207399 " 

Fluoride of Calcium. . 0.022858 " 

Chloride of Sodium.. 0.274676 " 

Silicic Acid.. ......... 0.882782 " 

Crenic Acid. ........ . 0.001921 " 

Apocrenic Acid.. ..... 0.000192 " 

Other Organic Matter, 1.999121 " 

Carbonate of Cobalt ) „, 

r^ • , r A ■ ( Tl races. 

Teroxide of Antimony > 



183.068321 

Solid ingredients by direct evaporation gave.. 184.072000 

Half-combined carbonic acid 1.885526 

Free carbonic acid 5.455726 

Hydro-sulphuric acid. ......................................... 0.001339 



Total amount of ingredients. 



,190.411912 



The effects of the Alleghany water are cathartic, diu- 
retic and tonic. Their main efficacy appears to depend 
on their laxative and purgative operations, by which the 
alimentary canal is excited to copious secretions, and the 
secretory functions of the liver and pancreas are stimu- 
lated to pour out their appropriate fluids. The sympathy 
between the organs upon which they operate primarily 
gives them a very wide range of value, as in relieving 
congestion or irritation of distant organs. 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS. 75 

When the water is used in small, regulated quantities, 
best calculated to meet the indications of cure in the large 
class of diseases in which it seems to have almost a spe- 
cific action, the leading characteristics are tonic, alterative 
and detergent. That the two last-named properties of the 
water, acting on the vascular, capillary and glandular 
system, purify the blood and other secretions, throwing 
off dead ''peccant matter," is shown by the softness, pli- 
ancy and smoothness of the skin, which it never fails to 
produce (a property which must commend it to the favor 
of the ladies as the safest and surest cosmetic), the speedy 
clearing of the complexion in the worst cases of jaundice, 
and the cure of scrofula — next to cancer, the most intract- 
able glandular affection. 

The catalogue of diseases for which the Alleghany water 
is indicated and recommended is — dyspepsia; obstruc- 
tions of the abdominal viscera generally ; depraved and 
vitiated biliary secretions ; obstinate and habitual costive- 
ness ; scrofula and cutaneous exanthemata ; jaundice ; 
biliary calculi; sympathetic affection of the lungs, and 
incipient consumption. 

But the crowning virtue of this water, as we have 
already remarked, is its specific tonic action upon the 
various organs concerned in the vital function of diges- 
tion. Its effect in correcting deranged and morbid ac- 
tion in these organs, and restoring them to their healthful 
strength and tone and vigor, is almost miraculous, and 
must be witnessed or experienced to be fully appreciated. 

Directions in the use of the water are very necessary 
to their effect; and fortunately the resident physician, 
Dr. White, is a gentleman who has accumulated a large 
experience on this subject, and the renown of whose skill 
has been carried by many a grateful patient to distant 



76 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

parts of the country. It is observed commonly that the 
water purges mildly or actively according to the quanti- 
ties taken into the system ; but what is most noticed, to 
the pleased surprise of the invalid, is that he can keep up 
the action upon his bowels for a number of days without 
feeling any debilitation, and instead of losing his appe- 
tite, as from ordinary purging, always experiencing a 
positive increase of it. This effect is of the happiest sort. 
It may be said, in popular language, that the system is 
cleaned out and built up at the same time, and thus re- 
newed by a process which is all the time exhilarating and 
agreeable. 

It is not necessary to be an invalid to obtain benefits 
from such a water. It improves even those in average 
health. The writer recollects the singular observation he 
made at the Alleghany Springs, that not only were the 
invalids bettered, as they are more or less at such resorts, 
but that all the visitors were improved ; the remark being 
common, even from the healthy as well as the sick, that 
they never felt so well before. 

Such a testimony points out the Alleghany as a resort 
for the entire public. The man out of health wants to 
get it ; the man in health wants to increase and to secure 
it; and the Alleghany seems to accommodate in a special 
manner, and beyond most other springs, each of the two 
universal desires. 

The country around the Alleghany Springs is a succes- 
sion of wild, strange pictures ; and the astonished amphi- 
theatre of the mountains looks down upon the illuminated 
ball-room and scenes transported from city life. The 
advantage of these springs — an extraordinary one when 
added to the surpassing virtue of the water — is the attrac- 
tions of natural scenery just about them, among these a 




PUNCHEON RUN FALLS. 



Page 77. 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS, 77 

romantic discovery of the seventh wonder of Virginia. 
The writer recollects having been recently shown, in a 
Northern city, some stereoscopic views of wild water- 
courses and picturesque canons in distant parts of the 
world, but while the exhibitor was waiting for our admi- 
ration we could not help exclaiming, ^'We have seen 
much finer around the Alleghany Springs in the State of 
Virginia. ' ' From a number of such views, embarrassed, 
in fact, by the riches of the scenery around us, we have 
chosen some for description, or rather for an attempt at 
such performance, where pen and pencil are alike so in- 
adequate. 

PUNCHEON RUN FALLS. 

Our first task is to give some account of a scene which 
ranks, we think — and our estimation has been improved 
by travel — with the most wonderful and grand sights of 
this continent. It has the freshness and romance of dis- 
covery. Within the leafy and untrodden forest of Mont- 
gomery county, in the south-western quarter of Virginia, 
on one of the rocky ribs of the Alleghanies, not more 
than eight miles from the famous Alleghany Springs, 
which for years have numbered their visitors by the 
thousand from all parts of the Union, a gentleman (Dr. 
Isaac White, the resident physician of the springs), ram- 
bling for trout up one of the forks of the Roanoke river, 
found hid in the green curtains of the woods, and de- 
fended by fortress and palisade of rock, what is now 
known as, or rudely called, the ''Puncheon Run Falls," 
and what is destined (if I can trust my own impressions) 
to exceed in its attractions those already well-known 
''sights," such as the Natural Bridge, the Peaks of Otter, 
Weyer's Cave, etc., which have made Virginia famous for 
7* 



78 THE VIRGINIA. TOURIST. 

its monuments of the beauty and cunning of Nature. In 
the midst of what, must have been once a grand convul- 
sion of the elements, and where the mountain side ap- 
pears to have been torn open almost to the primitive 
rock — a wound from an unknown source, unhealed and 
kept open and fretted with huge masses of stone — a moun- 
tain stream descends, not perpendicularly, nor yet by 
stages of descent, but at an angle near the perpendicular, 
in a smooth plait of currents knotted with white cascades, 
some eighteen hundred or two thousand feet, measuring 
the length of the water. But the scene and its surround- 
ings are best described from different stand-points of per- 
sonal observation ; and as the journey to secure these is 
not without interest, the writer proposes to attempt some 
record of the trip which made for him a day of various 
and ineffaceable memories. 

The first expression of curious inquiry which the visitor 
at Alleghany Springs makes concerning this grand and 
even sublime scene, so close to a resort thronged no less 
by lovers of Nature than by those who come to drink of 
the most wonderful health-giving waters of this State, is 
that it should have remained so long undiscovered, or 
rather unnoticed, to the world. It is wonderful, almost 
ludicrously so, that a singular class of people, for whom 
there is no other name here but the general one of ''Moun- 
taineers, ' ' living close to the Falls, where they scratch 
the ground for a meagre subsistence, and sometimes 
visiting the springs, bringing chickens, eggs, fruit, etc., 
should yet never have mentioned, not even signified by a 
word casually dropped in conversation, the existence of 
this wonder of Nature, in the presence or within the sound 
of which they lived daily, and some of them had been 
born. There is a ''settlement" within a quarter of a 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS. 79 

mile of the foot of the Falls, and a number of clearings 
about their summit. The people who inhabit these spaces 
on the mountains are a singular class of country people ; 
very ignorant of course, but always striking us as possess- 
ing much of the silence and stoicism of the red man : but 
little disposed to converse except with those who have the 
art to fall in with their manner, jealous or disdainful of 
*'city folks," and in their uncouth life showing much 
more of a harsh reserve than of mere rustic shyness. 
These ''mountaineers" are not communicative (except 
in whisky) : they are, of course, desperately ignorant, 
but their singular impassiveness is what most strikes the 
traveler. Those who lived near the Puncheon Run Falls 
saw nothing very remarkable in it, and therefore never 
spoke of it. Not a word, not even an accidental allusion 
from these people, ever discovered that there was within 
eight miles of Alleghany Springs what was worth cross- 
ing half the breadth of this continent to see. But for 
the adventurous steps of an enthusiastic sportsman, the 
ramparts of rocks and the veil of the forest would yet 
have secured against intrusion this grand and cunning 
work of Nature, now accessible to the army of tourists 
and the thousands who pursue in all the ways of travel 
the genius of natural scenery. 

Speaking to a neighboring mountaineer after his first 
impression from the discovery of these Falls, Doctor White 
moderately remarked that they were a great curiosity. 

''I don't see nothing kewrus about 'em," responded 
the man, disdainfully. "When the water comes over 
the top it is bound to run down to the bottom, and der 
ain't nothing kewrus or comicaV^ (a rustic synonym for 
''strange") "in that. Now" — adding meditatively — 
"if the water was to run up, you see, then I allow it 



8o THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

would be 2i kewrosity'' — a characteristic expression truly 
of rustic philosophy. 

Only eight miles from the smooth lawns and pic- 
turesque cottages and lively clamor of the springs ! But 
an eight miles that I would not like to travel again for 
a less prize than the spectacle at the end. Half of the 
distance is over a passable road, with some pleasant 
stretches along the murmuring waters of the Roanoke 
river, with entrancing vistas through the forest and 
visions of lazy cattle by the stream. But now comes the 
unbroken ascent (possibly on horseback) of a mountain 
at an unceasing angle near the perpendicular, a mile and 
a quarter — not a single table-land for rest, and where, 
if we walk, we must cling to the underbrush while we 
pause to take breath. On a momentary foothold near 
the top we look abroad. There is a girdle of mountains, 
patches of golden grain in the valleys below us, and the 
squat houses of the mountaineers ; and on the limits of 
vision across from where we stand the scarred, black 
peaks of the almost leafless Poor Mountain. In amazing 
contrast, on the summit of this mountain near where we 
stand, are immense towering trees of the yellow poplar, 
some of them sixty feet high before the first limb puts 
out, and in a single one of which cylinders, estimating 
the cubic feet of timber, there is a possible undeveloped 
house, awaiting, as the statue in the block of marble, the 
workmanship of man. Half a mile's ride on the level 
summit, and under such majestic though spare shade, 
and we are within a quarter of a mile of the Falls, where 
we must dismount and commence to go down a mountain 
side even more precipitous than that we have ascended, 
where we have no advantage of path, no guide but a 
low, uncertain sound as from the depth of the earth, con- 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS. 8l 

fused by the whispering winds which embrace it and bear 
it away, toying with it through the forest. Through nets 
of underbrush, over great boulders of rock, cutting 
gashes in the loose soil with our iron-shod boots, clinging 
to the ivy bush or to a point of uncertain stone while we 
get a foothold, we appear to be descending into a great 
fissure in the earth's surface, for there is nothing oppo- 
site to view through the torn or imperfect shade but the 
rocky face of another mountain patched with stunted 
growths and dead timber. 

The difficulties of the way are not described exces- 
sively ; but to show what is the resolution of sight-seekers, 
I may mention that a party of ladies, animated by the 
adventurous spirit of Miss M., of Louisville, Ky., a young 
lady just released from boarding-school, as dauntless in 
every exercise of mountain-life as she is graceful and 
radiant in the ball-room, and sustained by the matronly 
though youthful countenance of Mrs. Rosa C, whom 
every visitor of the springs will recognize whenever there 
is a kindness to be done for any of the guests or an oc- 
casion of pleasure to be dispensed, actually made the de- 
scent described, went to the very foot of the Falls, and, 
what is more, climbed the mountain in returning — all 
the gentlemen of the party being ordered to the front 
on this part of the trip. In what plight they emerged, 
what ravages of dry goods marked the way, the rents and 
mischances and losses of the adventure, are not for me to 
report; and Miss M., of the ladies, to all the impor- 
tunate curiosity which assailed them on their return, hap- 
pily under cover of night, to the springs, protests that a 
full relation of the adventure is not to be given until at 
the approaching masked ball of the season, and then 
under masks, or literally sub rosa. 



82 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

But to describe my own experience of a journey so 
difficult. About two-thirds of the way down one of our 
party called, joyously, " The Falls ! " We had for some 
time heard the sound of it, though on the uncertain 
shifts of the wind, and now a few steps or scrambles 
brought me to the view pointed out by our companion. 
I was disappointed and sullenly silent. There was noth- 
ing to be seen but ten or twelve feet span of falling water, 
and I readily imagined that the whole Fall was composed 
of such short stages of descent, breaking all effect of a 
continuity of view. '' We must go to the bottom," said 
Wills, whose long stride and fine eye had constituted 
him our leader. An aggravated struggle with loosened 
earth and over the sharp, remorseless rock succeeds, and 
we are at the bottom of this strange, almost ghastly, 
fissure, the awful, rock-ribbed residence of Solitude. 

Heavens ! what a scene opens upon me ! What I had 
taken for an abrupt termination of the- cascade proves 
only to be a deflection out of sight, and a few shifts of 
position at last give a point of view from which can be 
seen the sweep of the Fall, but out of a straight line, its 
white currents writhing close at the top, with their knotted 
muscles standing out, spreading, uniting, divided for a 
moment, then joined in loud foaming combat, again on 
the jut of a rock, again over the perilous edge in locked, 
fatal embrace, and all descending in one tempestuous 
roar of conflict into the wild channel of the water that 
rocks on the attenuated sand at our feet. And still the 
struggle goes on, for there are yet more falls even after this 
great descent, more conflicts and writhings of water, and 
twisted currents and great bowls worn in the rock, in 
which the foam splashes in feastful music. As far as the 
eye can reach — for two hundred yards at least from the 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS. 83 

foot of the great Falls — the stream is white with cascades, 
and bent and tortured with great masses of stone ; some 
of these huge boulders or loose rocks containing more 
than a thousand cubic feet, others piled by the side of 
the water, their great seams like recesses or gaps of Na- 
ture's masonry, mysterious openings into the side of 
earth. It appears, indeed, as if Nature had made all the 
surroundings of this wonderful scene to secure the greatest 
effect of wildness and sublimity. The solitude is deep, 
impenetrable. We are in the green heart of the wood, 
deep down in a narrow fissure j rocks embroidered with 
mosses as black and as brilliant as French broadcloth 
are close to the stream, and invite us to repose; the 
drapery of the forest, the rich foliage of the spruce, 
starred here and there with the pinkish-white of the 
abounding laurel, conceals even the outlines of the sum- 
mit from which we have descended. We are alone ; 
walled in and curtained in from the outer world with 
Nature's wildest work, the sublime manifestations of an 
elemental violence piled around us in the channel of a 
stream cleft and gashed in the mountain side, and riveted 
in the everlasting rock. There is not a souncf of life in 
the forest ; not a lizard disturbs the leaves, not a bird twit- 
ters, not a living thing moves. There is nothing but the 
endless sound of the Falls — not so loud, of course, as that 
of Niagara, but the same deep, solemn monotone of fall- 
ing waters. Unceasing / Through night, through storm, 
through sunshine, through all the world's changes, when 
other sounds are interrupted and changed, or travel or 
cease, and even the measures of time cease to beat, and 
the sweet cadences of health are gone and the pulses are 
still, yet uninterrupted, the same to-day as yesterday — the 



84 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

same when those who saw it then are passed into the 
ignorance and silence of the grave. 

The best effect of the Falls, no doubt, is that derived 
from the vexed channel through which it descends. If 
the water fell from such a height over a smooth and un- 
confined face, it is evident that it would assume a fan-like 
shape, losing its body and be dissipated into spray. As it 
is, the interruption from the points of rock in the channel, 
with here and there larger obstructions — one of the most 
remarkable, a tall pine grown straight into the air from 
a cape of soil — separates and divides out the currents to 
reunite or to unravel in separate/strands, making effects 
picturesque beyond the power of description. The most 
vivid comparison we can make to realize the spectacle is, 
a plait of white, glistening currents, at top closely inter- 
laced, now knotted with white lumps of foam, the plaits 
again and again shaken out, again and again united, and 
at the last frayed out like a whiplash of silver cords. 

The day was singularly propitious for every accumula- 
tion of sublimity in the scene. My companions had 
strolled down the stream in search of trout, and I was 
left alone m the heart of the great scene. One of those 
storms so rapid and sublime in this mountainous region 
was rising, and the solemn rumble of the thunder down 
the narrow valley, like the distant chariot wheels of the 
Almighty marshaling the storm, mingled with the deep 
roar of the Falls, and made a combination of sound in 
which the very soul of man was mixed with the grand 
commotion around him. 

The scene was inexpressibly sublime, and yet various, 
when explored to its extremity. For farther down the 
stream, where the eye could reach, and where my com- 

















JK^-K"^'' 



"PURGATORY"— VIEW ON PUNCHEON RUN. 



Page 85. 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS. §5 

panions had passed out of sight, and where I at last re- 
joined them, there were gentler passages, and 

" Still waters between walls ^ 

Of shadowy granite in a gleaming pass; 
Music that gentlier on the spirit lies 
Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes; 

Music that brings sweet sleep down fiom the blissful skies — 
Here are cool mosses deep, 
And through the moss the ivies creep, 
And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep. 

. . . . My soul was an enchanted boat, 
Which, like a sleeping swan, did float 
Upon the silver waves of her sweet singing." 

The most romantic route to the Falls is undoubtedly 
that up the stream, clinging to its banks or stepping 
along the rocks piled in its channel. It is perhaps no 
more difficult than the scrambling down the mountain 
side which has been described ', and if one can work 
his way through the ' ' purgatory ' ' of broken timber, 
brush and rock, he will be rewarded on his way with 
vistas of wonderful beauty. Occasionally he may look 
to a long distance through the canon. For miles the 
stream is contained closely by walls of shrub-covered 
rock ; and in the patch of sky overhead the sun is visible 
but for two or three hours of the day. An old moun- 
taineer remarked to us that of deer, bear and other wild 
animals hunted in that vicinity, none had ever been 
known to attempt the crossing of Puncheon Run until it 
emerges from the mountain, so wild and violent is the 
chasm. 

But the signal is given for departure, and we are forced 
to take the return route up the harsh side of the moun- 
tain in time to escape the rain. The ascent is made with 



86 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

difficulty and labor ; but at every pause of it I am con- 
stantly thankful that I have striven to look upon a scene 
that has stored my heart for ever with images of beauty 
and grandeur ; for it is thus, indeed, that Nature is to us a 
"perpetual hoid of nectared sweets," and its inspirations 
a possession for ever. All the difficulties of the travel 
are immensely repaid ; but yet it is pleasant to know 
that this wondrous scene is in a short while to be laid 
open to the great host of sight-seers, and made accessible 
to visitors generally, through the enterprise of Mr. Cal- 
houn, the energetic and popular proprietor of the Alle- 
ghany Springs. It is already planned to cut a path down 
the mountain side, and to overcome the most difficult 
spaces with ladders, and, besides these aids to the traveler, 
to open some romantic vistas through the forest, and to 
cut some timber that obstructs the otherwise easiest views 
of the Falls. There is no doubt that a scene which one 
of our company, who had traveled on every continent of 
the globe, pronounced to be incomparable in its com- 
binations of the picturesque and the grand, is to become 
famous, especially in its convenient conjunction with the 
best health-giving waters of Virginia ; and it is already 
contemplated to build another mammoth hotel at the 
Alleghany Springs, in view of the accumulation of visit- 
ors from such double attractions for the health of the in- 
valid and the interest of the tourist. 

There are local associations of the Falls of a singularly 
romantic nature, which are not to be omitted from my 
narrative, and which appropriately conclude its interest. 
In the almost inaccessible country near the top of the 
Falls, where there was a more modern settlement known 
as Puncheon Camp, there are remains of a noted refuge 
of deserters in the war of 1812. There are imperfect 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS. ^"J 

walls of stone yet visible where they constructed rude 
abodes and defied pursuit. Farther down the side of the 
mountain, perched on a steep slope, where a single man 
might hold in check a thousand pursuers, there is an ob- 
ject of yet greater interest — ^a house or cabin built of 
large stones, and so cunningly thatched with mosses that 
to the distant eye it has the appearance of one large rock 
on the perilous edge of the precipice. This singular 
structure is now known as the fortress and abode of a 
number of deserters from the Confederate army in the 
late war ; and it is reported that as many as forty or fifty 
of them harbored here, making predatory excursions into 
the surrounding country for subsistence, and invariably 
escaping those who pursued them by the ingenuity of 
their refuge. The place knows them no more ; but it 
yet hangs on the mountain side, its loosened thatches of 
moss fluttering in the breeze, one of the most interesting 
relics of a war whose crooked paths of romance are yet 
untrodden by historical detail, and are yet to be illumi- 
nated in story. 

fisher's view. 

About five miles from the Alleghany Springs towers 
*' Fisher's View" — one of the finest and most character- 
istic mountain views to be found in this region. It is ap- 
proached by a well-graded road, which will soon be com- 
pleted to the mountain top, and which is now eked out 
by a narrow but sound path, along which one may ride 
safely on horseback. A few dead, dismantled pines pro- 
ject from the mountain comb, which affords a view around 
half the horizon. A natural platform juts out, a con- 
venient observatory strewed with leaves and dead soil, on 



88 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

which we may luxuriously recline while "taking in " the 
delicious draughts of beauty in the scene. 

We have described the scene as a chai^acteristic moun- 
tain view. It is emphatically so, and one obtains here a 
vivid general idea, a typical impression, of the aspects of 
our mountainous country. There is scarcely a single 
breadth of landscape in the scene, if we may except the 
patch of open land on which glimmer the white cottages 
of the springs, and the imperfect glimpses of a valley of 
gray fields breaking away toward the Virginia and Ten- 
nessee Railroad. It is mountains — mountains all around, 
mountains interminable. The first element of the scene 
is the broken, unequal band of mountains that describes 
the half circle that limits our vision in front; now run- 
ning in straight ranges with almost mathematical decision, 
again rising into pyramidal points, again jagged and eaten 
in by the blue sky. And within this boundary lies rank 
after rank of lesser mountains, a great expanse of coun- 
try, dented and worked up as dough or potters' clay — 
plastic shapes, half regular in groups and rows, as if the 
hand of some great Power had pinched the loose soil 
into grotesque shapes, and again as if its fingers had 
touched here in careless disposition the immature crust 
of earth. 

This is the mountains. It is the wild, dented arena, 
clad with unbroken forests, that is the characteristic fea- 
ture of the scene, so strange to the lowlander. Homely 
comparisons seldom miss being graphic. A companion 
compared the knotted expanse to '' tobacco hills." Yet 
more picturesque was the anecdote of an old lady who 
had never lived above tidewater, and, having been trans- 
ported in the night-time on a swift railroad crossing the 
Blue Ridge, looked in the morning from the windows of 







P4 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS. 89 

the cars, and exclaimed, "Law sakes ! what a bumpy 
country ! ' ' 

The name of the view is taken from Fisher, the artist, 
who made a picture of it last season, declaring that he 
had seen nothing in Europe to equal its wild and un- 
kempt variety. It is seldom, indeed, that a mountain 
scene is so little disturbed by "clearings," the signs of 
cultivation, or even the habitations of man. Excepting 
the buildings of the Alleghany Springs, which lie at our 
feet, there is nothing in the intervening valleys to indi- 
cate the presence of man ; while, in the distance, the huge 
mountains, dark, forbidding and sombre, do not relent 
from their frown until far away the dark blue grows 
fainter and fainter, and they soften to meet the embraces 
of the sky and mingle in the same light cerulean hue. 

. . . . . Another experience of mountain scenery 
close to Fisher's View — but a few miles on a road turned 
to the south from that leading to the springs — occurs to 
our recollection. We had been riding on horseback for 
exercise, when, on the road to Franklin Court-house — a 
little beyond where a rickety sign-post marked twenty- 
six miles from there — Dr. W. pointed me out a mountain 
scene equal to that viewed from the Peaks of Otter, ex- 
cept in extent, as it occupied but one-fourth of the hori- 
zon. The spot is nameless, yet as a mountain view it 
has but few superiors in Virginia. For a hundred miles 
we could see the billows of the Alleghany. But there 
was a peculiar impression I wished to record — one due to 
certain atmospheric effects which are sometimes observed 
in these views of distant mountains, and which a dis- 
tinguished and traveled Northern gentleman assured me 
that he had never seen under other skies. It was a faint, 

8« 



90 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

whitish band of light on the horizon, the deep blue of the 
sky melted into a radiant, indescribable hue as it de- 
scended to join the outline of the mountains, and there, 
ending in a streak of something like gray twilight, 
through which we could look farther and farther as into 
the immensity of space, the boundless sea of an outlying 
eternity ! The air was slightly misty when this effect was 
observed. Any description in words is but a poor ap- 
proximation, and I doubt as well whether human pencil 
could produce such an irradiation, such a mixture of 
softened colors and lights, as that in which I looked be- 
yond the Alleghany into a world without trace or meas- 
ure or post of distance on it, and which I was yet sure 
was infinite ! 





CHAPTER VI. 



A WEEK IN SOUTH' WEST VIRGINIA. 




Going to the Natural Tunnel — A Seat of Empire — Bristol and its Surroundings — ■ 
A Ride through Two States — The White Ships of the Mountains — Estill- 
ville — A Glance at the Mineral Wealth of the Country — " Boone's Trace " — 
Indian Relics and Traditions — The Natural Tunnel — First View of the 
Tunnel — Its Dimensions — Frightful Passage through It — Sublime View from 
the Lower Entrance — Speculations as to the Cause of this great Natural Won- 
der — The Tunnel seen by Sunrise — Sublime and Picturesque Effects — Associa- 
tion of an Indian Story — The Tragedy of Masoa — The Adventure of Dodson — 
A Battle with an Eagle — The Cave of the Unknown — Almost Lost — A Cav- 
ernous Country — Blooming Rocks — A Poetical Countryman — The Holston 
Springs — Analysis of the " Hot Spring " — Attractions of the Place. 

HE writer opines that many persons living beyond 
the limits of Virginia — and he knows that even 
a considerable number of natives of this grand 
and wonderful State — have never heard of the Natural 
Tunnel. Whether or not it is one of the greatest won- 
ders of this continent, let the reader determine when he 
has read our description, rude and insufficient as it may 
be. Much has been written vaguely (and our own pen is 
already dipped in the subject) of the natural scenery of 
Virginia, its supreme claims on the American tourist, 
and the neglect of those claims ; but it is certainly an 
extraordinary instance of such neglect that there is within 
our memory no printed account of the Natural Tunnel, 
and that even the curiosity of the newspaper man has 
scarcely penetrated its obscurity. It has occurred to us 
to attempt some account of this greatest curiosity of Vir- 

91 



92 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

ginia, and to add to it some notes of a tour in a part of 
this State hitherto but little known to the outside public, 
yet recently the subject of great and eager interests of 
the capitalist, and abounding with many new fields and 
objects for the American traveler and artist. 



A SEAT OF EMPIRE. 

We leave the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad at Bris- 
tol, the most bustling town of Virginia, and one of the 
liveliest and most animated for its size south of the 
Potomac. It has the peculiar appearance of a nascent 
metropolis ; and what this little town, which has accumu- 
lated a population of eighteen hundred souls since the 
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad developed its first im- 
portance, and where a few years ago sportsmen hunted 
wild ducks on what is now the site of the Nickels House, 
a hotel of metropolitan dimensions, may become, when 
the system of railroads is completed that will establish it 
as the halfway house between the Mississippi Valley and 
the Atlantic seaboard, the doorway of the Central West, 
standing, in fact, between the centre of production of the 
West — which Professor Maury now calculates to be in the 
mouth of the Ohio — and the outlet to the great commer- 
cial ocean of the world through Hampton Roads, is one 
of those subjects of vivid imagination belonging to the 
grand possibilities of the future progress of our country. 
Bristol may yet be the radiating-point of a scheme of 
improvement scarcely less great or brilliant than the Pa- 
cific Railroad ; of which, if the reader doubts, let him 
consult Professor Maury's Physical Survey of Virginia — 
a work whose grand imaginations one may well study in 
surveying this part of Virginia, which thrusts out as a 



A WEEK IN SOUTH- WE ST VIRGINIA. 93 

cape across which must come the great highway of the 
trade of the boundless West. The figure of the State 
here terminating in the form of a long cape — the thin 
tongue of land thrust out of the jaws of the great Appa- 
lachian chain of mountains, extending through the United 
States from New Hampshire to Alabama — gives distinct- 
ness to the imagination of the commercial importance of 
that part of Virginia of which Bristol is the emporium ; 
and that without statistics and trade details, which we 
have no room for in these pages, and which would be 
misplaced there anyhow, unless incidentally. When the 
Norfolk and Great Western Railroad is built, and the 
Virginia and Kentucky also, it is very certain that we 
shall hear of Bristol again, and that in a much larger 
sense than a point of debarkation or departure for a tour- 
ist (such as the author) to an interesting patch of moun- 
tain scenery and natural curiosities in Virginia. 

Without exceeding the limits of the design of our 
present writing, without going into the commercial and 
industrial resources of the country, which we traverse in 
another interest, we may yet, standing at Bristol, take 
that cursory glance which the general traveler may afford 
in such circumstances. Such a glance, in fact, is irre- 
pressible. Here, at this particular point, a vision of in- 
dustrial empire bursts on the tourist and mingles with 
the other interest of his journey, even if his mission be 
not more serious or more thrifty than to see the natural 
beauties of the country and to make the ordinary trip of 
pleasure. He stands where he cannot help seeing the ele- 
ments of power and of wealth around him. He is in the 
heart of the richest portion of Virginia. The estimate 
of it may be made in a single paragraph taken from an 
intelligent journal : 



94 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

" The rich and productive counties constituting what 
is known as South-west Virginia are among the most 
favored localities on the American continent. Their cli- 
mate, scenery, mineral productions, their coal, iron, lead, 
salt, plaster, their splendid valleys watered by never-fail- 
ing streams, their boundless pastures, their rich mountain 
sides, capable, in many instances, of cultivation to the 
very summits, their vast yield of hay, their fine horses, 
sheep and cattle, and last, but not least, their noble breed 
of men and women, are destined, by the help of the 
great Virginia and Tennessee Air-Line and the James 
River and Kanawha Canal, to be distinguished as the 
very crhne de la creme of Virginia. South-west Virginia 
is often called an empire of herself." 

Yet this is but one and the smallest element of the 
vision that floats around Bristol. We are in one of the 
greatest gateways of the trade of America. In the times 
in which we write it remained for the genius of General 
Mahone to display the value of this portion of the State 
as holding the thoroughfares of a far-reaching and opu- 
lent trade. The eye of such a man sweeps a magnificent 
scene ; a breadth of internal improvement ; the thorough- 
fare of the Norfolk and Great Western road ; its neigh- 
bor in the Danville road, pushed by a judicious and 
masterly system of friendly connections into the very 
heart of the Gulf States ; the consolidation of the three 
lines reaching from Norfolk to Bristol, raised beyond 
small and fretful local interests into a system of thorough- 
fares for a continent ; and finally and generally, the ter- 
minus at Bristol expanded into a great funnel for pouring 
through the accumulated freights of the South-west, con- 
ducting them on to their ultimate markets, then draining 
the whole region between Bristol and Norfolk of its vast 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA. 95 

products, distributing its due proportion to each of the 
cities of Virginia, and throwing the remainder upon its 
long-neglected seaboard, and laying the foundations there 
for the elevation of Norfolk to the height of one of the 
great commercial capitals of the world. 

But to return to the immediate aspects of Bristol. It is 
a town that will repay the curious traveler at least a day's 
delay in it. It is broadly scattered on some rolling hills, 
and there is a bit of mountain view in the distance. The 
common acceptation places the town just astride of the 
Virginia and Tennessee boundary, the line running from 
the Nickels House just through, the middle of the main 
street, so that the passenger, by a few steps, may cross 
from State to State, and may be one moment in Virginia 
and another in Tennessee. But this boundary, though 
of legal and traditional effect, dividing the town by 
almost exact halves in respect both of size and property, 
is said to be incorrect ; and it was reported to the writer 
that the recent party of government officers that had ob- 
served the eclipse of 1869 from Bristol had determined, 
from astronomical observations, that the town laid sev- 
eral miles within the true limits of Virginia; and, indeed, 
it is so located in the later and more careful maps of the 
State. But until a joint commission of the States of Vir- 
ginia and Tennessee shall determine the true boundary 
(if it ever does), the citizens of Bristol appear satisfied 
to live in a double jurisdiction, there being, in fact, two 
corporations and two sets of municipal officers ; and, con- 
trary to what might be expected, we were assured that no 
case of conflict had occurred of the adjoining authori- 
ties, and that perfect peace reigned in the bicephalous 
town. 

Bristol is interesting at present as the depot of a wagon- 



96 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

trade — that curious and primitive apparition of commerce 
which we remember in our boyhood in other parts of 
Virginia, and which we supposed had disappeared since 
the advent of the steam-car. But it survives in its glory 
in Bristol. It is a great part of the present prosperity of 
the place ; the busy streets are choked with wagons, some 
of which have traveled sixty or seventy miles to these 
markets, bearing the stores of an abundant country. At 
every step we meet the wagoner, and the streets are garish 
with the gilt signboards and flame with the immense 
placards which denote an appeal to the country customer. 
It is the peculiar display of a thriving country town, and 
the effects of the gilded letters and the painted paste- 
board, though coarse, are brilliant, and, we doubt not, 
''stunning" to the rustic. The hotel accommodations 
of the place are fine, and even unexceptionable. 

A RIDE THROUGH TWO STATES. 

A day's journey from Bristol transports us to the 
Natural Tunnel ', but so little is it visited by travelers 
from a distance, and so imperfectly appreciated is the 
sublime scene by persons who live near it and have 
grown, familiar with it, that there is some hesitation in 
giving the directions of the road to it. Yet there is a 
passably good road to it, and a plain one, too. The 
traveler goes westerly twenty-eight miles to Estillville, 
the seat of Scott county, and thence again westerly and 
slightly to the north for fourteen miles, crossing the 
Clinch river, and he is at the Natural Tunnel, having 
made the distance, forty-two miles, on a road the great 
portion of which is the main thoroughfare to Cumber- 
land Gap, and all of which may be pleasantly traveled 
either in a vehicle or on horseback. 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA. 97 

We chose the latter conveyance. The road to Estill- 
ville takes us, in turns, through two States. It is the 
great thoroughfare of the wagon-trade to Bristol, and it 
is picturesque with white-covered wagons winding over 
the hills, separate or in trains, dotting the landscape, 
several of them being almost constantly visible on the 
tract of country that the eye sweeps. These are the 
white ships of the mountains. They are freighted with 
grain and fruit, and the other stores necessary in the dis- 
tant homes from which they have come. Some of them 
were emigrant trains traveling westward. The modes of 
*' moving" are interesting. Whole families live for 
days, and even weeks, in the covered bodies of these 
wagons, cooking and sleeping under the trees by the 
wayside ; and as the heavy vehicle lumbers on in the 
day, such of the emigrants as are able to walk trudge by 
the side of it, while the aged and feeble ride j and it is 
not uncommon to see the curious eyes of little children, 
in various begrimed conditions, peeping from the white 
canvas that covers the moving household. 

In one passage of the road we met a close train of 
five covered wagons — a few men in front with rifles on 
their shoulders, and some six or seven barefoot women in 
their rear, of all ages, from the old crone in her narrow 
and dirty dress of linsey-woolsey to the young girl of 
mountain beauty unadorned, walking slowly and painfully 
over the stones as their teams labored up the hill. 

"Where are you going?" we asked one of the men. 

" Gwine to Ar-kan-j-f^i-, " was the reply, with a strong 
accent on the last syllable. 

*' You have a long journey before you, my friend." - 

"Yes, furrer'n five hundred miles, I reckon," was the 
answer, with a certain air of determination in the bronzed, 
9 G 



98 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

set face ; and slowly, sturdily, the train moved on in that 
long and weary journey which poverty and disappoint- 
ment elsewhere had appointed for the emigrants. 

We were weary from riding when we got sight of the 
village of Estillville. Passing through the well-defined 
Moccasin Gap, after having crossed the North Fork of the 
Holston river, there suddenly came into view the twenty 
or thirty houses which compose Estillville, overlooking 
a beautiful bit of meadow bounded by a line of ''river 
knobs." It is a village that boasts of a half-finished 
church on the hill -side, and a new court-house w^ith a 
cupola and gilt ball. Spending the night at a so-called 
hotel, where the real and unaffected kindness of the lady 
proprietor made amends for the imperfect accommoda- 
tions, and more than compensated for the single dollar 
that was asked for supper, lodging, breakfast for ourselves 
and stabling for our horse, we were fortunate in making 
acquaintance with two young gentlemen, who accompa- 
nied and helped us in our journey the next day to the 
Natural Tunnel. One incident of Estillville must not be 
omitted. It was natural for a traveler, wearied by a long 
ride, to ask for a glass of spirits, and one whose experi- 
ence hitherto had been that there was not a cross-roads, 
much less a village, in Virginia where whisky of some 
quality might not be procured. But not a drop of liquor 
of any sort is to be got in Estillville, and the remarkable 
fact was ascertained that not for fifteen years has there 
been a license to sell liquor in the county. Here is a 
record indeed for the temperance cause, and that, too, 
in a mountain county of Virginia, where the display of 
so much virtue has been lost to fame. A little observa- 
tion was convincing enough that there were no hardier, 
healthier, manlier people to be found in Virginia than 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA. 99 

those among whom our lot had fallen for a few days ; 
and recollections of their hospitality, their intelligence, 
their thrifty and honest and innocent lives have been 
borne away by at least one grateful traveler. 

The ride in the fresh air and through the scenes of the 
next morning was delightful, and we were constantly enter- 
tained by information of the country through which we 
passed. Here, on each side of the road and in every di- 
rection, were pointed out the undeveloped resources of 
one of the richest parts of Virginia. The intelligent con- 
versation of Mr. W , of Estillville, was constantly 

directing us to the wonderful mineral resources of this 
region — the iron of which had already been tested in the 
workshops of Cincinnati as the best from any quarter of 
the Union ; the copper mines that abounded and were 
yet unexplored ; the wonderful deposits of the lead, so 
rich that from a bank a mile from Clinch river, where 
our road lies, the neighbors had cut out plugs and 
moulded bullets from them in the late war. But all these 
resources are as yet undeveloped, and while Scott county 
awaits the marches of enterprise, the people are satisfied 
to raise grain and fruit — the latter so abundant that in 
the scarcity of money it has actually furnished a currency, 
and dollars and cents are counted by peaches and apples. 

The incessant question in all the conversations of the 
people touching the resources of this country is of the 
railroad that is shortly expected to furnish them an outlet 
— meaning the Virginia and Kentucky Railroad, which is 
to extend from Bristol to Cumberland Gap, connecting 
there with the Kentucky system of railroads, and running 
away to Louisville, Cincinnati and Cairo, bringing in 
fact Louisville three hundred miles nearer to the sea — 
through the Chesapeake Bay — than she is now by rail 



lOO THE VIRGINIA TOURIST, 

through the narrows of Sandy Hook. Some work had 
been done on this road when the war broke out, and its 
grades are yet visible along the route we are traveling. 
That it will be built in a few years (when the State of 
Virginia is able to redeem her pledge of a million and a 
half dollars toward its construction, or when capitalists 
have had the great benefits of such an improvement 
brought fully to their attention) we do not permit our- 
selves to doubt ; for it is in fact a continuance of the Nor- 
folk and Great Western Railroad, a necessary link in that 
great line of communication at which we have already 
imperfectly glanced, and which, joining at Bristol with 
the railroads of Tennessee, and connecting at Cumber- 
land Gap with the Louisville, Harrodsburg and Virginia 
road, is to bring the most productive regions of the West 
into commercial connection with the tidewater ports of 
Virginia. The grades to Cumberland Gap are easy. And 
curious enough, this important railroad finds a passage 
through the Natural Tunnel which we are proceeding 
to visit, and such as the human resources of the engineer 
might not soon accomplish. The Natural Bridge in 
Rockbridge county has been remarked for the conve- 
nience it furnishes — a stage-road passing over it. And 
here we have a yet more remarkable instance of the 
generosity of Nature in furnishing a natural tunnel just 
where a railroad must seek the passage of an almost im- 
penetrable mountain ridge. It is certainly a singular 
correspondence of natural gifts, and one, too, of natural 
wonders. 

Riding through the beautiful and remarkable scenery 
that hedges our way to the Natural Tunnel, our attention 
soon falls off from railroads and trade, and we are lost in 
very different meditations. A single remark conjures up 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA. lOl 

all the resources of romance. We are frave ling precisely 
the same road that Daniel Boone traversed a hundred years 
ago, when he moved into Kentucky. It is still the great 
thoroughfare into Kentucky, opening out from Moccasin 
Gap, and passing through the different chambers or galle- 
ries that run into each other along the lovely waters of 
the Clinch. It was known for many years as "Boone's 
Trace, ' ' and is yet called so by the emigrant. The whole 
country around here is rich with Indian traditions, which 
have been neglected in comparison with those of Eastern 
Virginia, and which might yet furnish a volume of vivid 
interest. The country we are traversing, and the sur- 
rounding counties, formed properly part of the " Dark an*d 
Bloody Ground," which the historian and novelist have 
too exclusively placed in Kentucky. Five miles from Es- 
tillville, and on the road by which we approached it from 
Bristol, are the ruins of a block-house which protected 
the early settlers ; and a fearful story yet clings to a spring 
within the limits of the village, where a family of the name 
of Farris perished under the tomahawks of the savages, 
their blood dying the waters of the brook. Passing on our 
way a little farther west, we are reminded that we are in 
the thoroughfare through which the tribes inhabiting the 
Rockcastle hills, in the wilderness of Kentucky, passed 
to the old settlements of Virginia. Not far from here, 
too, was the . range of the celebrated Cherokee chief, 
"Dragon Canoe," worthy to be ranked with Tecumseh 
or Osceola in courage or skill, and who suffered a defeat 
fatal to his tribe in 1776, at the battle of the Great Island 
in the Holston river. What tales of blood yet cling to 
these mountains ! What calamities and trials come fresh 
in remembrance in the midst of these scenes ! They 
compose a story as yet but scantily written, and one that 



I02 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

cannot be written entirely to the advantage and honor 
of the white man, when we remember that ruthless war- 
fare sometimes made by the settlers, and call to mind a 
message from Mr. Jefferson, when governor of Virginia 
(1781), congratulating the success of an expedition against 
the Cherokees already mentioned as inhabiting this re- 
gion, ''it having destroyed fourteen Indian towns, and 
burnt fifty thousand bushels of corn ! " It is a history, 
perhaps, not in the interest of the present day to revive ', 
but the wild scenes bring glimpses of recollections of it 
to the traveler, and especially in a country which still 
appears primitive and from which civilization has not yet 
entirely effaced the envelope and color of savage life. 

But enough of these reflections by the wayside. We 
are aroused from our romantic meditations — fit preface, 
however, as they have been to that wild and wonderful 
scene where tends the chief interest of our journey. 

THE NATURAL TUNNEL. 

After progressing about three miles from the ford of 
the Clinch river, and after having repeatedly crossed its 
crooked tributary. Stock creek, we come to a small moun- 
tain or globular hill which is our wondrous destination, 
for here is the Natural Tunnel. There is nothing which 
advertises in advance this great wonder, or in any way 
excites the expectations of the traveler. There is a 
common road, from which we depart a few hundred 
yards to make a half circuit of the base of the mountain, 
that goes clean over the ridge, leading to a settlement 
some miles farther, called Rye Cove, and which was once 
the abode of a fierce Indian tribe. This main road goes 
over the arch of the Tunnel, furnishing a curious conve- 




THE NATURAL TUNNEL— THE INTERIOR. 



Pago 103. 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA. 103 

nience to the traveler, of which he would be unaware, 
seeing nothing through the foliage but glimpses of the 
mural rocks that guard and sustain the termination of the 
secret passage-way many hundred feet below him. It is 
from this convenience that the neighboring people name 
the gigantic work of nature we' are proceeding to explore 
a natural bridge. But this name is certainly insufficient 
and paltry for a rock-work that on one flank at least ex- 
tends some eight hundred feet, and which if regarded with 
reference to the breadth of the interval it spans, is, in 
fact, a complication of bridges, arranged, as we shall 
presently see, in one single massive spectacle. 

The western face of the Tunnel, near which we dis- 
mount, continues partly concealed from view, or is 
imperfectly exposed until we nearly approach it; the 
immense rock which is perforated being here dressed 
with the thick foliage of the spruce-pine, and the harsh 
surface adorned with a beautiful tracery of vines and 
creepers. At last is seen the entrance of what appears to 
be a huge subterraneous cavern or grotto, into which the 
stream disappears ] a towering rock rising here about two 
hundred feet above the surface of the stream, and a rude 
entrance gouged into it, varying in width, as far as the eye 
can reach, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty 
feet, and rising in a clear vault from seventy to eighty 
feet above the floor. The view here terminates in the 
very blackness of darkness ; it is broken on the first curve 
of the Tunnel. The bed of the stream, from which the 
water has disappeared on account of the drouth, the re- 
duced currents sinking to lower subterranean channels, is 
piled with great irregular rocks, on the sharp points of 
which we stumble and cut our hands : there is no foothold 
but on rocks, and it is only when we have struggled 



I04 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

through the awful, cruel darkness, holding up some feeble 
lights in it, and issued into the broad sunshine, that we 
find we have traveled nearly two hundred yards (or say, 
more exactly, five hundred feet) through one solid rock, 
in which there is not an inch of soil, not a seam, not a 
cleft, and which, even beyond the debouchure of the 
Tunnel, yet runs away a hundred yards in a wall five hun- 
dred feet high, as clean and whetted as the work of the 
mason. 

But we must not anticipate this majestical scene, '^won- 
derful beyond all wondrous measure." Happily, in 
entering the Tunnel from the western side we have adopted 
the course of exploration which affords a gradual ascent 
of the emotions, until at last they tower to the standard 
of a perfect sublimity. The course of the Tunnel may be 
described as a continuous curve : it resembles, indeed, a 
prostrate c/>. For a distance of twenty yards midway of 
this course we are excluded from a view of either entrance, 
and the darkness is about that of a night with one quarter 
of the moon. The vault becomes lower here — in some 
places scarcely more than thirty feet high — and springs 
immediately from the floor. The situation is awful and 
oppressive : the voice sounds unnatural, and rumbles 
strangely and fearfully along the arch of stone. We are 
en coffined in the solid rock : there is a strange pang in the 
beating heart in its imprisonment, so impenetrable, black, 
hopeless, and we hurry to meet the light of day. In that 
light we are disentombed : we cast off the confinements of 
the black space through which we have passed, and we are 
instantly introduced to a scene so luminous and majestic 
that in a moment our trembling eyes are captivated and 
our hearts lifted in unutterable worship of the Creator's 
works. 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA, 105 

It is that sheer wall of rock which we have already 
mentioned, where the arch and other side of the tunnel 
break away into the mountain slope ; a high wall, slightly 
impending ; an amphitheatre, extending one hundred 
yards, of awful precipices ; a clean battlement, without 
a joint in it, five hundred feet high. And th^'s splendid 
height and breadth of stone, that, a thousand storms have 
polished, leaving not a cleft of soil in it — this huge, un- 
jointed masonry raised against the sky, gray and weather- 
stained, with glittering patches of light on it — is yet part 
of the same huge rock which towered at the farther end 
of the tunnel, and through whose seamless cavity we 
have traveled two hundred yards. It is in this view 
that the mystery of the scene seizes the mind, and the 
last element of sublimity is added to it. It is in this 
view that the Natural Tunnel we had come to see as a 
mere ^' curiosity" takes rank among the greatest wonders 
of the world. What Power, what possible imaginable 
agency of Nature, could have worked out this stupendous 
scene ? 

Of all the wonders and curiosities of Nature within 
the breadth of man's discovery, there is always an at- 
tempt to construct some theory of a cause. There is 
some scheme of probabilities, or, at least, of possibilities, 
that may be adjusted to the case — some ingenuity that 
will supply something satisfactory, more or less, to the 
ignorance of man and his demand for an explanation. 
Thus the Natural Bridge in Rockbridge county has been 
accounted for on the hypothesis, we believe, of Professor 
Rogers, once of the University of Virginia, of the worn 
exit of an inland sea that in some immeasurable time 
washed its way through the Blue Ridge to the ocean. 
But neither water nor fire can be taxed by human in- 



io6 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

geniiity as the cause of the Natural Tunnel — a scene 
which, having approached in wonder, or even in its 
lower tones of *' curiosity," we are yet compelled to 
leave in unutterable amazement. Look at the breadth, 
the magnitude of this scene — an unbroken rock eight 
hundred feet in length, averaging, say, three hundred 
feet in height to where the soil clothes it, and measuring 
nine hundred feet across the face of the lower entrance 
of the Tunnel : multiply these numbers together for the 
cubic volume of this mountain of rock, and then inquire 
if it is possible that the Natural Tunnel could have been 
worn — and worn to such dimensions as we have already 
given of it, and which we have described as clea7t rock 
throughout — by the action of water operating under any 
imaginable pressure or in any conceivable time ! But 
the theory of the agency of water, anyhow, is discredited 
by a single circumstance — the inequalities of the height 
of the arch, varying as much as from eighty or ninety 
feet in some places to twenty in others. Again, the 
phenomenon fails to strike us as one of volcanic action. 
There are none of the irregularities of an upheaval \ 
there are no signs of a force rending the mountain and 
tearing it asunder. The impression of the scene — and it is 
here where its sublimity is unexampled — is not as of some 
mighty force that has raised the crust of the earth, or that 
has rent the rock or worn through it or delved in it, but 
as of some mysterious Power, winged with all the winds 
of heaven and browed like the thunderbolt, that has bat- 
tered its way through the solid rock, tearing away every- 
thing in its path, strewing it with the huge, sharp ruins 
that now choke the stream, and that has rushed through 
it all like the screaming, invisible body of a storm, which 
scatters dismay around and leaves behind it the voiceless, 







THE NATURAL TUN N EL— LOOK I NG OUT. 



Page 106 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA. 1 07 

iminscribed monuments of a sublime and inscrutable 
wonder ! 

The conception is terrible. The imagination is strained 
as we stand within the august portals of this scene, medi- 
tating a question which ever recurs — feeling that shock 
which verges on insanity, smiting the feeble mind of 
man whenever he takes into his hands the dark chain of 
causation. We let fall in the strange doorway where we 
stand the links of thought that thrill us too powerfully, 
and we look to other parts of the scene to moderate our 
emotion. 

Turning our eyes away from the battlement of rock to 
the opposite side of the ravine, a new revelation of the 
grand and picturesque awaits us. Here a gigantic cliff, 
but one broken with rock and soil, and threaded to its 
summit by a sapling growth of the buckeye, the linden 
and the pine, rises almost perpendicularly from the 
water's edge to a height almost equal to that of the oppo- 
site wall of rock. A natural platform is seen to project 
over it, and yet a few yards farther there is an insulated 
cliff, a Cyclopean chhn?iey, so to speak, scarcely more than 
a foot square at its top, rising in the form of a turret at 
least sixty feet above its basement, which is a portion of 
the imposing cliff we have mentioned. It is at once per- 
ceived that here are two points of view that will give us 
new and perhaps the most imposing aspects of the scene. 
To attain these points, however, it is necessary to make a 
circuit of half a mile ; and the sinking sun admonishes 
us to defer this new interest of tiie scene until to-morrow. 

* * >[; ^ ^ ^ 

It M'^as well that we did so. After a comfortable lodging 
in a farm-house two miles away, where a substantial sup- 
per, flanked with the invariable milk and honey of the 



lo8 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

mountains, and a bed of snowy-white linen, attesting 
that cleanliness so beautiful when found beneath the rude 
roof, and yet so common in all the homes of the moun- 
taineers, had refreshed us, we remounted for the Tunnel 
in the early morning, and were soon to find that the 
rising sun was to give a new and unexpected glory to the 
scene. This time we ascend the mountain instead of 
deflecting as before. The road is easy ; there are no 
difficulties of access to the points of view from the top 
of the Tunnel, and they are undoubtedly the grandest. 
We pass to the platform before described by a few steps 
from the main road. It is a slab of rock projecting from 
an open patch of ground ; a dead cedar tree is standing 
at its edge, throwing its gnarled and twisted arms, as in 
wild and widowed sorrow, over the awful scene below. 
We now see the great opposite amphitheatre of rock in 
added grandeur, for we see it from above — we see it 
across a chasm nine hundred feet wide and five hundred 
feet deep, and the exposure being almost exactly eastern, 
the long spears of the rising sun are being shattered on 
it. The effect is inexpressibly grand. But there is one 
more circumstance to be added to the scene : we do not 
see from this observatory the arch, the entrance of the 
Tunnel. A few yards farther the fearful chimney-shaped 
rock invites to a more commanding view, but the ascent 
is dangerous ; the stone on top is loose, and so narrow 
that two persons can scarcely stand on it. A single mis- 
step, a moment's loss of balance, and we would fall into 
eternity. But now the sense of peril is lost, or is rather 
mingled, in the grandeur of the scene. It is a panoramic 
view. We have now the whole sweep of the mural pre- 
cipice opposite; the sun's glitter is incessant on the 
polished stone ; the trees which fringe the bottom appear 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA. 1 09 

now scarcely more than shrubs; the entrance of the Tun- 
nel has now come into view, and that which yesterday 
we thought so high and wide, now appears, from our 
amazing height, as a stooped doorway. We imagine 
the gloomy entrance into a cave of Erebus and Death, 
the broken rocks lying within which look like black and 
mangled entrails. It is a fearful picture — it is that of a 
supernatural abode. 

It only needed some wild legend to crown and adorn 
the scene. Happily such is furnished, and, more fortu- 
nately for the interest of the reader, the tale is true. 
Some tradition attaching to such a spot is to be ex- 
pected, and a spot, too, surrounded in past times by the 
Indian tribes. Romances are easily conjured up or in- 
vented in such a scene, and in fact there is scarcely a 
remarkable cliff that does not suggest some new version 
of the old story of "The Lover's Leap." But the tradi- 
tion attached to the chimney-rock we have described was 
ascertained to be true before the writer was willing to 
transcribe it ; and it furnishes a story and a scene more 
dramatic than that of Pocahontas, or any of those ac- 
counts of Indian life which have been carefully preserved 
in the earlier settlements of Virginia. 

The story was told the writer by a lady of the neigh- 
borhood, whose intelligence and manners might have 
adorned any circle of listeners, and whose dark eyes 
flashed with the spirit of her narrative. Her uncle. 
Colonel Henry S. Kane, a gentleman well known and 
honored in this part of Virginia, and of extreme age, 
remembers the main incidents of the story, which trans- 
pired some years after the close of the Revolutionary 
war, and which were related to him by persons of the 
neighborhood. The same incidents were preserved some 
10 



no THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

years ago in a Tennessee paper (we think the Rogersville 
Times). So much for the authenticity of the " Story of 
Masoa." 

In 1 79-, what is now called Rye Cove, a small settle- 
ment near the Natural Tunnel, hemmed in by the moun- 
tains, was occupied by a fierce Indian tribe, probably the 
Wyandots. Masoa, the daughter of the chief, was 
enamored of a young warrior of her tribe, and their 
trysting-place was on the wild heights that overhung the 
subterranean passage of the mountain. Here it Avas her 
custom to gather flowers, and to meet her lover in the 
inspiration of the beautiful and solitary scene. But the 
old chief had other designs for his daughter : he had 
promised her in marriage to the chief of a neighboring 
tribe, and, scrupulous as is the Indian in such affairs, he 
was relentless to the entreaties of his daughter, and angry 
when he discovered that her affections had been engaged 
by another. Masoa told her lover in the accustomed 
place of their meeting of the fate that had been deter- 
mined for her ; when, it is said, he advised, as the only 
means of averting their disappointment, that on the day 
appointed for the neighboring chief to claim his bride, 
Masoa should escape, ascend the sharp high rock, and 
there, with her lover, proclaim him as her choice to her 
father and to the party who would probably pursue her; 
the two threatening to cast themselves from the rock if 
compassion was not had on their love, and the maiden 
released by her father from his hateful compact. It was 
hoped that the prospect of a self-immolation so awful, so 
instant and so dreadful in its aspect might touch the 
heart of the old chief and save Masoa and her lover. 
The day came for the celebration of the marriage which 
the father had designed : the neighboring chief who was 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA. lil 

to bear away the prize attended with numerous followers. 
It was an occasion of barbaric splendor, to which all 
were invited ; but Masoa was missing. Search was insti- 
tuted : her romantic habit of visiting the wild scene on 
the mountain was known, and it is said that a little 
brother who had frequently accompanied her there now 
innocently directed the party of pursuers. These, to the 
number of several hundred, had searched through the 
cavernous recesses of the Tunnel. Assembled in the am- 
phitheatre below which we have described, closely mingled 
in the ardor of pursuit, an appalling sight fell on their 
uplifted eyes — Masoa and her lover on the high stem of 
rock, his strong form uplifted above the screen of woods 
in clear relief against the sky, and embracing it the 
affrighted but unshrinking maiden, who had ascended 
with him this awful altar of immolation. She had com-, 
menced to speak to the spectators below, and she was yet 
speaking loudly and vehemently in the last eager hope of 
reconciliation with her father and of safety for her lover, 
when an arrow whizzed through the air. It had been 
strung by the jealous and disappointed chief below. A 
stream of blood gushed from the breast of the warrior — 
that breast from which she had separated herself but a 
little space to rise to the proclamation of her love : she 
M^as seen to clasp him in her arms, to look long and 
tenderly on his face as if inquiring of the death that 
passed over and sealed it ; and then, embracing him more 
tightly and uttering a wild, long shriek, she leaped down 
into the air, falling a mangled corpse on the rocks below, 
and bearing in her not yet loosened arms the dead body 
of her lover. The scene is not yet ended ; another death 
completes it. Even while Masoa leaped, her brother, 
exasperated, in the quick agony of his revenge has stridden 



113 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

behind the assassin chief and planted his tomahawk in 
his brain. All three of the dead bodies are said to have 
fallen nearly together. 

Such is the story of Masoa — characteristic of the Indian 
nature, its strength and ardor, containing no violent im- 
probability, assured by such living testimony as has given 
us those many narrations of Indian life which we do not 
hesitate to believe, and so vivid and dramatic, its natural 
arrangement falling in such a form of tragedy, that we 
may congratulate ourselves on saving it to the literature 
and romance of Virginia. 

A more modern and a more homely adventure is re- 
lated of another part of the scene. It happened within 
the memory of the neighbors. In the perpendicular wall 
of rock at the lower entrance to the Tunnel occurs what 
is apparently a small cave or fissure. A man of the name 
of Dodson determined to explore it, as it was not unlikely 
that it might contain nitrous earth, since found to abound 
in the caves and grottoes of these mountains, from which 
saltpetre is extracted. Anyhow, Dodson was determined 
to take a look into this opening, and he was accordingly 
lowered from the top by a rope running over a log and 
let out by several men. The rope was eked out to a 
sufficient length by some plaited strands of the bark of 
leatherwood ; and on this perilous tenure, supported 
around the waist, he commenced his descent. The pre- 
cipice shelves considerably here, and to draw himself to 
the edge of the fissure, Dodsoa had provided himself 
with a long pole having a hook at the end. Throwing 
this on the edge of the fissure, he had nearly pulled him- 
self there when he lost his hold and swung like a pendu- 
lum out into the middle of the ravine, suspended by an 
imperfect rope two hundred feet above the bed of rock 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA. 1 13 

below. At this moment, when he was performing his 
fearful oscillations — so fearful that one of his neighbors, 
standing at a point on the opposite cliff, described it as 
if his body had been shmg at him across the abyss, caus- 
ing the spectator to draw back instinctively — an eagle, 
scared from its nest in the fissure and excited to protect 
it, flew out and attacked the already alarmed adventurer. 
Having dropped his pole in his consternation, he yet 
managed to defend himself with a pocket-knife ; but 
while stabbing at the eagle over his head, he severed one 
of the strands of his bark rope. The accident was un- 
perceived by those who held the rope above, who were 
only notified that something fearful had happened by the 
screams of Dodson — "Pull! for God's sake, pull!" 
He was saved, but the agony of suspense was too much 
for him ; and as the men caught hold of him by his 
shoulders and dragged him over the top of the pre- 
cipice, he fainted. The opening he had ventured so 
much to explore has since been found to be nothing 
but a shallow pocket in the rock. 

*'THE CAVE OF THE UNKNOWN." 

The interest of Scott county to the tourist does not 
end at the Natural Tunnel. But half a mile from this 
scene, which we leave unwillingly, is a cave in the moun- 
tain side, arranged in chambers, one of them seventy by 
ninety feet, and from the roofs of these hang thousands 
of stalactites of various sizes and shapes. This cave has 
been but imperfectly explored, and the two rustics who 
attended us in it with a pair of tallow dips had never 
ventured farther than where there was easy ingress, and 
our party was without facilities to make farther explora- 
tions. We passed through several chambers, and must 
10* H 



114 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

have gone more than a hundred and fifty yards through 
various windings, at times under lofty roofs, again on our 
knees in low apertures, our lights sometimes flashing on 
colonnades of stalagmites formed by the calcareous sub- 
stance brought down by the drip from the roof or arch. 
In one of the rooms the country people have been accus- 
tomed to have their " frolics " by torchlight. A smaller 
room adjoins this theatre of the dance, laden with the 
beautiful tapestry-work of the rock, and looking like a 
bridal-chamber. 

Here, for centuries and ages and countless time, deep 
down in the bowels of the mountain. Nature has done 
her unremitting work. Nowhere more than in one of 
these subterranean workshops, where the silent forces 
toil in darkness, in absolute secresy, do we obtain that 
sublimest reflection of the universe — the ceaseless and 
unmeasurable activity of Nature. Busy in the profound 
darkness, no measure of time in it, no intermission, 
work every moment, man sleeping and resting and dying, 
but the hidden structure ever, ever going on — going on 
as we are looking at it, going on in stony indifference 
to the lights that we hold up, yet going on when we have 
turned the scene into darkness and traveled away, and 
listen to the rock-drips until lost in the distance of our 
retreat. 

We repeat that our explorations could only be partial, 
as the extent of the cave is as yet unknown, and so little 
has the curiosity of the neighbors been taxed with this 
natural wonder that it is yet without a name, except that 
which our party agreed to bestow upon it — the '' Cave 
of the Unknown." It was said that wild animals had 
been chased into it, and it had been found impossible to 
discover their retreats. There were several apertures no- 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA 1 15 

ticed by us, which might be increased so as to admit the 
body of a man, and stones cast through some of these 
gave a hollow sound, denoting enlarged spaces beyond. 
But our short and feeble lights, and the ignorance of our 
guides, caused us to make a hasty and somewhat anxious 
return to the light of heaven. One of the guides once 
sent a thrill of horror through us, already chilled in 
those awful depths of cold air, and impressed by the 
scenes and pictures, as of another world, that looked at 
us in the broken darkness and from the saffron walls, 
calling out to his companion who had wandered into 
another gallery, and saying, after a painful hesitation, that 
he believed we were lost. But the cheerful light of day 
soon shows us its welcome again ; and right glad are we 
to emerge into it, although the atmosphere — and it is 
that of an October day — is almost stifling as we pass too 
suddenly into it from the cold and buried air of the cave. 
The fact is, the structure of the whole country about 
here is cavernous. What we heard of caves and grottoes 
and tunnels and subterranean chambers was enough to 
give me a crusty sense of insecurity in traversing such a 
country. Near the house of a Mr. Horton, about three 
miles back on the road, returning from the Natural Tun- 
nel to Estillville, we were pointed to the partly-choked 
exit of a tunnel, presenting little that was curious or 
grand as seen from the roadside, and that might have 
been passed without notice, but which we were assured 
opened into an irregular passage-way two hundred feet 
high in some of its parts, and at one point wide enough, 
as a countryman described it, to turn a six-horse team in 
it, and extending a mile and a half through the moun- 
tain ridge. We were also told that there was a body of 
water in it, through which some boys had swam. 



Ii6 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST, 



BLOOMING ROCKS. 

The narrator of the wonder just mentioned, an old 
countryman, displayed considerable though uncultivated 
vigor of mind in expatiating on the attractions of the 
country. If he did not altogether murder the ''King's 
English," he yet persistently knocked an i out of "curi- 
osity." There were " cur'osities " innumerable in this 
region. He would like to sell to the writer (whom he 
evidently mistook for a Yankee speculator) a thousand 
acres of them. 

''Why, sir," he continued, pointing with animated 
gestures to a wooded height near by, "there is rocks 
blooming up there — rocks that bloom all the time." 

"What!" we exclaim. "Oh, you mean various col- 
ored mosses on the rocks." 

"No, sir. There is mosses plenty; but there's yaller 
blooms — some little as your hand, and some big as a 
bushel's head; the brightest yaller you ever saw — in the 
rocks. I can show you a mile of them, all blooming 
round you same as a flower garden." 

Here, indeed, was a new feature of mountain scenery, 
a new wonder ; and when we had ridden to see it we 
found that the old countryman had really supplied a 
graphic word, and that he had had the unconscious ele- 
ments of poetry in his rude description. There were 
rocks which bloomed. We could trace a well-defined 
ridge of rock, running a mile and a half, on which there 
were not only patches of rich mosses, black and purple, 
but spots and irregular spaces of the most brilliant yel- 
low crusted in the rock, their colors apparently as live as 
those of the richest plant or flower. At certain times 
of the year the colors of these crusts are found to fade. 



A WEEK IN SOUTH-WEST VIRGINIA. 1 17 

and then they brighten again as the flowers do, so that 
the term bloom is even more vividly correct than we had 
at first supposed. It was a new and strange appeal to 
the imagination. The long ridge which the eye might 
follow running away through the foliage, its spots of 
black and purple and yellow glittering in the sun, lay like 
the knotted length of a monster serpent, its stripes and 
patches of different colors glancing through the leaves. 

It is a pity to spoil such pictures by hard words of 
mineralogy ; so we propose to leave work so unwelcome 
to the iconoclast of science, and to proceed thankfully 
on our journey. 

THE HOLSTON SPRINGS. 

Three or four miles south-west of Estillville, and 
immediately on the North Fork of the Holston river, 
another curiosity of this region invites the traveler. It is 
the Holston Springs ; and what is most remarkable is, 
that here, within an area of four or five feet square, one 
may stand and drink, within reach of his hand, of four 
different kinds of water. There is a common limestone 
water, a chalybeate water, a thermal water, and a white 
sulphur water ; and the traveler may drink of each within 
a common enclosure, without getting out of his tracks. 
The chalybeate water is weak, but is said to have become 
so from imperfect tubing. The white sulphur, though 
not very strong, is a bold spring, and the water cool and 
pleasant, and efficacious in many diseases. But the most 
valuable spring in the group is the one known as the 
*' warm spring." Professor Hayden analyzed this water 
in the summer of 1843. From his report the following 
extract is published in an advertisement of the Holston 
Springs property : 



Il8 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

'^The uniform temperature of the spring, d^Y" , be- 
ing fifteen or sixteen degrees higher than the average 
temperature of the springs in the vicinity, renders it a 
natural medicated warm bath, subserving all the purposes 
of health and luxury, without being sufficiently high to 
give it the usual disagreeable flavor of warm water. One 
wine gallon of the water contains 41.14 grains of saline 
matter, consisting of chloride of sodium and muriate of 
alumina, 1.5 1 grains; sulphate of soda, a trace; sulphate 
of magnesia, 12.75 grains; phosphate and sulphate of 
alumina, a trace; carbonate of lime, 6.42 grains; sul- 
phate of lime, 20.46 grains. Total, 41.14 grains." 

The water is represented to be actively diuretic, and 
under favorable circumstances determining to the skin 
by mild diaphoresis ; with many it is mildly purgative. 
Drs. Clapp, Trigg and Preston, respectable physicians of 
Abington, speak favorably of its use in diseases which 
have their origin in a disordered state of the digestive 
organs, in rheumatism, mercurial diseases and scrofula, 
as well as in diseases of the skin, affections of the uri- 
nary organs, and in some of the diseases of females. 

When we visited the Holston Springs the property was 
very much out of repair, and it had been offered for sale 
in consequence of some litigation. It is to be hoped 
that the place will be improved. The virtues of its vari- 
ous waters, its bold, rugged mountain scenery, and its 
pure, bracing air are great natural attractions, which, 
employed and improved by an enterprising proprietor, 
might class it among the most popular resorts in the 
mountainous region of Virginia. There are unsurpassed 
facilities afforded here for the sportsman. The moun- 
tains are full of game, and the beautiful river that flows 
within fifty yards of the hotel is alive with fish. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE MONTGOMERY WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, AND 
THE YELLOW SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

Locality of the Montgomery White Sulphur Springs — Beauties and Attractions of the 
Place — Medical Description of the Water — Reputation of the Springs for Social 
Gayeties— A Criticism on Southern Society— A Gala Day at the Mont- 
gomery White Sulphur — Description of a " Grand " Tournament — "Gan- 
der-pulling" — A Knightly Defence of the Tournament — A Beautiful Illumination 
in the Mountains— A Night Picture— The Yellow Sulphur Springs — 
Analysis and Virtues of the Water — Within Sixty Feet of the Alleghany 
Summit. 




ACK from our rugged explorations of Nature 
to scenes of social gayety, unexcelled in our 
summer life in Virginia. 
The Montgomery White Sulphur Springs are only ten 
miles from the Alleghany Springs, occupying a central 
position among the mineral fountains of the South-west, 
and situated near the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad ; 
but although so accessible, our visit to them was deferred 
until we had "done" the extremity of the South-west, 
and it was only after having doubled on the railroad, 
from Bristol to "the Springs Station," that we were set 
down in this delightful place to recruit from the wear of 
our horseback travel in Scott county, and to refresh our- 
selves with observations of gay and fashionable life in the 
mountains. 

These springs, although, like the Alleghany, of recent 

119 



I20 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

discovery and improvement, are among the best known in 
Virginia. The grounds are but a mile and a half from 
the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, whence the visitor 
is pleasantly conveyed by a tramway reaching to the 
threshold of the reception-room. The situation is beau- 
tiful, there being two exits by valleys which are formed by 
small streams that ripple in miniature cataracts over stone 
bottoms. The wild scene is not without its legendary 
history ; old residents of the neighborhood recollect its 
early name of "Devil's Dell," and the curious visitor is 
pointed to a grotesque mass of rock within stone's throw 
of the reception-room, which has been designated for 
years as "the Devil's Arm-chair" — a seat which, we 
must hope, has been long since unoccupied, and which, 
for ourselves, we were not disposed to invade. 

The lawn of the Springs is one of the most beautiful in 
the mountains — a large elliptical plam planted with orna- 
mental trees, here and there a monarch of the forest, the 
ground divided by a stream flowing through deep, worn 
banks, and cutting down clean to the gravel ; and bound- 
ing immediately this view a broken rim of the -Alleghany, 
while at its very foundation runs a road as hard and 
level as a race-course. The buildings are unexception- 
able; and although less pretentious than those of the 
Greenbrier White Sulphur, or less substantial than those 
of the Old Sweet, they have their equals nowhere in the 
mountains of Virginia, for pleasant architectural effect 
and for the practical designs of comfort. They are said 
to have cost one hundred and forty thousand dollars. 
They suffered during the late war, having been abused 
for the purpose of a hospital ; but it is absolutely astonish- 
ing how the energetic efforts of the present proprietors 
have restored the place to its former condition of attrac- 



MONTGOMERT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 1 21 

tiveness and comfort, and are already designing additions 
and improvements. The buildings, as they now apjjear, 
are spacious and on a large scale, consisting of elegant 
cottages sufficient to accommodate at least a thousand 
people. The central building, which includes the dining- 
hall, ball-room and parlor, is equal in elegance and 
spaciousness to any other in the South, and the •' cabins " 
may be put down as a misnomer, as they are in all respects 
equal to first-class residences, having two stories and gal- 
leries, and all suitable appurtenances. 

As yet, no analysis of the waters of these springs has 
been made. They are of two classes — one a strong 
sulphur water, apparently of like qualities and effects with 
the famous Greenbrier White Sulphur ; and the other a 
chalybeate water, of a strongly tonic character. Of the 
first, the medical information which we have is, that it is 
'' a bland and pleasant beverage, well adapted to the cure 
of a large number of chronic affections that are known to 
be advantageously treated by sulphur waters generally. 
It is somewhat less cathartic, and also less stimulant, than 
many sulphur waters, and hence may be used with more 
freedom and with greater safety than such waters by deli- 
cate and excitable persons. This mild and slightly 
operative character of the water, while it constitutes it a 
safe beverage for the delicate invalid, very happily adapts 
it, as a mild alterative and depurative agent, to a large 
class of cases in which alterative effects are demanded for 
the cure of the case. ' ' 

But it is not so much as an invalid resort that these 
springs are famous ; and the proprietors appear to have 
the good sense to understand that, after all, the invalid 
patronage of watering-piaces is but a small proportion of 
their profits, and have therefore determined to keep their 
11 



123 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

place in a style of elegance and comfort that will afford 
to that large portion of the public in motion in summer 
an attractive resort and a social rendezvous. For the 
gayeties of their seasons the Montgomery White Sulphur 
have a peculiar and unrivaled reputation among the water- 
ing-places of Virginia. There is nothing of the sapless 
and uninteresting life of an invalid resort. The social 
life here, high as it is, is peculiarly .^^^///^(fr;^ / drawing 
its animation from the principal Southern cities, such as 
New Orleans, and having little of that Northern shoddy- 
ism which it has been attempted to import into some of 
our summer resorts in Virginia. Our Southern belles 
might, perhaps, improve their taste in decoration, but 
we are sure that people of fashion in the North might 
improve their own style by imbibing some of that earnest 
and natural gayety and enthusiasm, that unconcealed 
sense of happiness and enjoyment, which characterizes 
the more impulsive and demonstrative people of the South 
in places designed for pleasure and recreation. 

A GALA DAY AT THE MONTGOMERY WHITE SULPHUR. 

A SOCIAL occasion of more than usual magnitude and 
brilliancy served to divert the writer a day's space from a 
journey otherwise planned. For some weeks past we 
had been promised an unparalleled entertainment at the 
Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, in one of the 
* '■ grandest ' ' tournaments that had ever yet been wit- 
nessed in Virginia, at which Mr. Walker, the governor 
elect of Virginia, was to preside, to be followed by an 
illumination and a ball of more than usual magnificence. 
Governor Walker was delayed, and thus disappointed the 
curiosity of the multitude ; but many other distinguished 



MONTGOMERY SULPHUR SPRINGS. 123 

persons were present, and we doubt whether a similar 
occasion has ever been excelled in Virginia for real 
pleasure and brilliancy. The number of visitors at the 
springs was increased to some six or seven hundred ; a 
special train from Lynchburg brought additions to the 
crowd, and the gentry in the neighborhood attended in 
such a number of private conveyances, and there was 
such a collection of horses, that we were confounded on 
first entering the extensive ornamental grounds of the 
springs to hear 

" Steed threaten steed with high and boastful neigh." 

On the day of the tournament the expanse of the lawn 
was covered with gay crowds, while nearer the crescent 
course of the tournament the long line of ladies, thus pro- 
vided with the best views of the game, might be likened 
to a wreath of beauty twisted with picturesque confusion 
on the front of the scene. There are twenty-eight 
knights entered for the lists, who ride about as if prac- 
ticing their steeds, while the unlucky pedestrian who 
escapes them is bewildered by the rattling of carriage 
wheels, the cracking of whips and the vociferations of 
the gentlemen to the negroes who accompany them. But 
in a moment all is silence and expectation, for the herald 
has sounded the trumpet; the knights are "charged" by 
a sage, bald-headed orator, and the exciting exercises of 
the day are commenced. 

Some account of the tournament, which for many years 
has been a peculiar sport in Virginia, and which is evi- 
dently becoming one of the popular games of the South, 
is likely to be new to some of our readers, and not unin- 
teresting. The Southern people are remarkable for their 
affection for the horse ; but they differ from those of the 



124 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

North in their regard for this animal, to the extent that 
they esteem him only for his uses in displaying their 
horsemanship, and not, as the cavaliers of the North gen- 
erally do, for the qualities and ''points" of the animal 
considered as a creature by itself. To ride a fine horse 
in this country is a mark of aristocracy, although the 
writer can scarcely go so far as a certain Virginian, who, 
speaking in an agricultural society and urging the rais- 
ing of fine stock, declared that " no man could habitually 
ride a fine horse without being a gentleman." In the 
South the trotter is unknown or despised, while the run- 
ning horse, or one trained to the tournament and sports 
of the field, is valued for display and exercise. In this 
sense the Southerners are probably the most equestrian 
people on the civilized face of the earth ; and when the 
question of a design for their flag in the late war was 
debated — a question which was vexed and undecided to 
the last — John M. Daniel was persistent in recommend- 
ing a horse's head, or the heraldic equivalent of that 
noble animal. 

In Virginia the display of horsemanship has for many 
years taken the form of tournaments. Farther South a 
coarser and more vulgar equestrian exercise, which has 
happily fallen into disrepute, is known by the name of 
*' gander-pulling." One of the feathered tribe is sus- 
pended by the head from a cross-beam or gallows, his 
long neck being cleanly stripped of feathers and well 
greased ; and the feat of the. horseman is, riding at full 
speed, to wring the neck of the fowl, that is yet alive, 
and to bear off his body as a trophy of his skill. The 
achievement is a severe trial of horsemanship ; the rider 
is often jerked from his horse ; there are ludicrous mis- 
haps, and sometimes severe accidents — the latter, as Mr. 



MONTGOMERT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 1 25 

Bergh and his school of humanity might consider, well 
deserved by the cruelty of the sport. 

But for many years there has been no gander-pulling in 
Virginia. The tournament is of another order of diver- 
sion. It has no feature of cruelty, and it is designed to 
practice every resource and grace of horsemanship — in 
speed of the animal, steadiness of the eye and hand of 
the rider and a peculiar movement of agility. Ordi- 
narily, the game is to pierce, with a long, metal-shod 
spear, a ring about an inch and a half in diameter, barely 
encircling the spear. The ring is suspended on a shallow 
hook; the knight rides at full speed, being timed by the 
second to complete the course, which is usually some two 
or three hundred yards. If he succeeds in bearing off 
the ring, he is yet to perform the most difficult part of 
the feat, which is to ^^cast" the ring, throwing it, by a 
quick and adroit movement, from his spear within ten, 
twelve, or fifteen feet of the beam whence he has taken 
it, as the rules of the game may determine. In the in- 
stance of the Montgomery tournament^ we have com- 
menced to describe there was no casting of the ring, but, 
as a multiplication of skill, three rings were suspended 
at intervals of about twenty paces, and the game, which 
consisted of five courses, was decided by the number of 
rings and "tips." 

The successful knight having been proclaimed, and 
the choice of Queen of Love and Beauty having been 
bestowed upon a lady of New Orleans, the most interest- 
ing part of the programme remained to be carried out. 
At night the coronation took place amid the dazzling 
lights of the ball-room, the knights in their picturesque 
costumes, and the fair queen fluttering under the atten- 
tions that surrounded her throne, displaying perhaps not 
11* 



126 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

much of regal self-assertion, but preferably exhibiting the 
tender and modest grace of a youthful virgin queen. The 
coronation speech was made by a member of the Lynch- 
burg press (Mr. Edward S. Gregory), arising young poet of 
the South ; and, although the writer is not prone to praise, 
he must say that there was an exquisiteness of expression, 
a freshness of treatment, a nice felicity of words in the 
orator's effort, such as he had seldom heard on similar 
occasions, where the inspirations are necessarily trite and 
unreal. He referred to some modern efforts to burlesque the 
tournament, and then eloquently proceeded to vindicate 
it in its various respects as a game of manly skill, a school 
of refinement, a social opportunity and an inevitable as- 
sociation of the virtues and graces of real arms. And 
the reader may believe that the veriest mocker of such 
sports, witnessing its unusually brilliant and picturesque 
display on the occasion of this Montgomery tournament — 
the aspects of reality given to it j the romantic circum- 
stances of a mountain amphitheatre and the wild scenes 
loosely bound .by the dusky combs of the distant Alle- 
ghany ; the evident refinement of sentiment which it in- 
spired in a vast and promiscuous crowd, and, more than 
all, the real abounding joy of all who participated in it — 
might relent from his disposition to ridicule and conclude 
that, after all, there might be real and healthful uses in 
the tournament. 

But the most brilliant of all the scenes of this festive 
occasion, and one unequaled in its surroundings by even 
what the imagination can originate, was the illumination 
at night of the vast lawns and adjoining grounds of the 
springs. More than a thousand Chinese lanterns, pro- 
cured from the most picturesque that could be bought in 
New York, were hung in the trees. In the midst of 



THE TELLOW SULPHUR SPRING. 127 

these fireworks were exploded, rockets fired. Back of 
all this display was the dark, ominous mountain, rising 
in the night, black as a bank of thunder-clouds, anon 
striped with the ribbon flights of the rocket ; above all 
a star-spangled sky, and in the distance the weird cries 
and echoes of a night in the mountains. The illumina- 
tion to such an extent was a happily-conceived idea, and 
I do not know that it has ever been before so well dis- 
played in the mountains of Virginia. Nowhere could 
the eff'ect be so well repeated as here, where there is a 
natural amphitheatre of mountains, and where the varie- 
gated plain mingles so abruptly with the wooded height 
and mural precipice that already, from the elevation of 
more than three thousand feet above the sea-level, lift 
themselves to scale the last ascents of the Alleghany. 

THE YELLOW SULPHUR SPRING. 

Five miles south-west of the Montgomery White Sul- 
phur is the Yellow Sulphur Spring. It is most con- 
veniently reached by stages passing over four miles of 
well-graded turnpike from Christiansburg, on the Vir- 
ginia and Tennessee Railroad. 

We are now in the most elevated part of Montgomery 
county. The spring rises on the east side of the Alle- 
ghany and flows into the head waters of the Roanoke 
river, two miles away. We are surrounded by variegated 
and interesting scenery ; but what is most remarkable and 
the most pleasant distinction to the visitor, who already 
feels his translation into a new atmosphere, is the great 
altitude of the spring. It is not more than sixty feet 
above the summit-level of the mountain from which it 
flows. In consequence of this elevation, the air, as may 



128 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

be well imagined, is elastic, pure and invigorating during 
the hottest days of summer; and the advantages of a 
salubrious climate are added in more than ordinary- 
measure to the virtue of the water, to which Nature has 
given a place so lofty and secluded. 

As yet the Yellow Sulphur is but in the infancy of its 
fame, although the water was locally known and was 
visited by invalids sixty or seventy years ago. Within 
recent years the public has obtained some scientific 
knowledge of the water, and it is already indicated by 
medical men as one of the most valuable in the Springs 
Region of Virginia. It derives the name popularly 
given it from a yellow-brownish sediment, which is often 
quite perceptible on the sides and at the bottom of the 
spring enclosure. 

The following is an analysis of one gallon of the water : 

Carbonic acid 9.360 grains. 

Sulphuric acid. ....... 53.383 " 

Phosphoric acid 0.013 " 

Magnesia... 7.723 " 

Lime 32.150 " 

Oxide of iron 0.432 " 

Alumina 1.729 " 

Potash o. 1 19 " 

Soda 0.359 " 

Chlorine 0.092 " 

Organic extractive matter 3-733 " 

The range of usefulness of the water is to be found in 
its valuable tonic properties. It is a very pleasant bever- 
age, lying lightly and comfortably upon the stomach, 
even when taken in large quantities. Seven to eight 
tumblers, taken at intervals, constitute the usual day's 
allowance of the invalid. The water is beautifully trans- 
parent, and, what is a better recommendation to the 
thirsty, it is delightfully cool, remaining at 55° in the 



THE YELLOW SULPHUR SPRING. 129 

hottest days of summer. The smell of sulphur is not 
perceptible ; the taste is slightly astringent or styptic, 
and the water, after being used but a short while, is gen- 
erally preferred by visitors, as a common drink, to the 
limestone water of the neighborhood. 

The accommodations at this spring are as yet limited, 
their capacity scarcely exceeding a hundred persons. 
But the buildings are new and very comfortable, and the 
table furnished by the bountiful proprietors is one of the 
best in the mountains. All of the visitors of the season 
of 1869 will testify to the good living of the Yellow 
Sulphur — the wholesome and substantial beef, mutton 
and chickens, the splendid bread, and the abundance of 
good milk, cream and butter. The grounds have a 
natural beauty to which architectural designs (however 
we might wish an extension of buildings for the accom- 
modation of a larger number of visitors) are not neces- 
sary to add. The shade of magnificent forest trees, 
whose tops are even with the summit of the Alleghany, 
makes a shelter glorious and luxurious enough for a sum- 
mer day ; and we leave it unwillingly as the cool nights 
drive us into our '^cabins" and to a refuge under two 
blankets even in August. 

I 



CHAPTER VIII 



A TRIP TO NEW RIVER, SALT FOND, BALD KNOB 
AND LITTLE STONY CREEK, 

Plan of a Trip into Giles County — Crossing; the Mountain — A Ride through a 
Night-Storm — The Adventure of a Lost Hat — Benighted in the Woods — Sin- 
gular Experience with a Mountaineer — One of " Nature's Noblemen " — 
Eggleston's White Sulphur Springs — Scenery of New River — 
" Pompey's Pillar" and "Caesar's Arch" — "The Narrows" — "Hawk's 
Nest '" — New River compared with the Rhine — Little Stony Falls — 
Terrific Leap of the Water — Salt Pond — A Lake of Fresh Water suspended 
among the Clouds — A Submerged Forest — Part of the Lake Unfathomable — 
An Old Lady's Theory — An Emigrant Company of East Tennesseeans — Talks 
with them — A Picture of Solitude — Bald Knob — Looking into Five States — 
Effects as compared with the View from the Peaks of Otter — Cloud-ships — 
A Fog-ocean — A Hospitable Rest. 

HE Salt Pond, one of the ^'sights" of Virginia, 
if curiosity is to be reckoned, is thirty-two 
miles from the Montgomery White Sulphur 
Springs; and around the terminus of a journey so brief 
cluster other objects of even surpassing interest. In the 
neighborhood of this mysterious lake one may get 
glimpses of the matchless scenery of New river ; or he 
may climb to Bald Knob and get the grandest of moun- 
tain views ; or he may pursue the swift and contentious 
course of Little Stony Creek, of which Mr. Fisher, fresh 
from the art colleges of Europe, has said, ''If it was in 
Germany, we would see a hundred artists sketching on its 
banks." All these scenes may be compassed by a trip of 
three or four days. Salt Pond, the centre of them, is 
130 




A TRIP TO NEW RIVER. 131 

about equidistant from Christiansburg and the Mont- 
gomery White Sulphur ; the road from the latter place 
passing into the Christiansburg pike, and constituting 
the great stage thoroughfare between the springs of the 
South-west and those of Monroe, Greenbrier and Bath 
counties. Stages run on this line of travel three times a 
week, and pass in view of Salt Pond. 

A journey which promised so much we were not slow 

to undertake. With Warren W , the guide and dear 

companion of other journeys in Virginia, I was soon 
equipped for the road, it having been determined not to 
take the stage-coach, but to travel in our own way, so as 
to make a more thorough and leisurely exploration of 
the country. Warren was mounted on a horse — or, as 
they say in, the mountains, by a singular pleonasm, a 
*' horse-beast." I bestrode a mule; ''Jacky" being 
recommended as sure-footed, a regular '' dog-trotter," 
and the pet of the stable. 

Our road extended through the richest and most culti- 
vated parts of Montgomery county. It was a vision on 
either side of broad acres, wide, warm fields, the yellow 
harvest bound with the garniture of woods, and groves 
in which stood the square brick houses indicative of the 
country gentry of Virginia. Leaving Blacksburg, eight 
miles on our way, a pretty village which boasts a " col- 
lege" of some sort, we were soon ascending the Brush 
Mountains. There is nothing like a ride in this elevated 
atmosphere ; the beautiful day is a benefaction — long- 
forgotten poetry comes to our lips. For miles on the 
flattened summit of the mountain we gallop along, high 
in the blue ether and drunken with it, clouds of snowy 
white over us and the birds of the mountains in their 
majestic flight. 



132 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

It had been determined in our leisurely plan of journey 
to leave the main road within a few miles of Salt Pond, 
deflecting to Eggleston's White Sulphur Springs, and to 
spend the night there. We had been told that the hotel 
accommodations at the Pond were vile beyond descrip- 
tion ; while Warren, who had spent a former season at 
Eggleston's, assured me, with good reason, as I afterward 
found, that it was the most delicious and comfortable of 
resorts in the Mountain Region of Virginia. We should 
sup on broiled pheasant, drink the most famous of 
whisky toddies, and go to sleep on the banks of New 
river and in view of "Pompey's Pillar" and "Caesar's 
Arch," the magnificent rock-work throwing its shadows 
through our windows. So it was decided to spend the 
night at Eggleston's, and to devote the following day or 
days to Salt Pond, Bald Knob, Little Stony Falls, etc. 
It was a well-planned journey, but, alas ! how many such 
' ' gang a-gley ! " 

At Blacksburg, where we tarried and lunched, *vve 
had been told that from Newport, nine miles across 
the mountains, it was but three miles to Eggleston's. 
We had thus been in no hurry to pursue our journey ; 
the greater part of the way up and down the mountain 
ridge we had ridden very slowly, and the sun had been 
set for a quarter of an hour when we reached Newport, 
a settlement of twenty or thirty board houses on a little 
pad of soil at the bottom of a funnel-shaped cup formed 
by the high hills or mountains. As we passed through 
the toll-gate here, we asked the distance to Eggleston's 
Springs. 

"It's nine miles I'^ vv^as the reply, not a little to our 
consternation. 

The night was gathering, the sky had become overcast 



A TRIP TO NEW FIVER. 1 33 

with clouds, but we determined to press on in view of the 
cheer that awaited us, much to be preferred to that sug- 
gested by the tarnished signboard of the Newport hotel 
that creaked dismally over our heads. We had ridden 
about three miles, when one of those rain-storms which 
spring up so suddenly in the mountains absolutely en- 
gulfed us in darkness. It was so dark that I could see 
nothing before me, not even " Jacky's" ears. The roar 
of the winds through the mountain pines was terribly 
grand — a solemn diapason that drowned our voices ; the 
air of the night had become so cold that my benumbed 
fingers could scarcely feel the reins of the bridle \ there 
was no sign of human habitation near ; and, to suggest 
the real perils of our situation, we could hear through 
fitful intervals of the storm of wind and rain the sound 
of rushing waters below us, telling us that our road over- 
hung the deep channel of a river. We rode on in single 
file, "Jacky" bringing up the rear, faithfully keeping 
the pace of the horse in front, but absolutely refusing 
to move a peg when the attempt had been made to put 
him in advance. 

Presently a glimmering light was descried in the 
encircling sea of darkness, in which were absolutely 
obliterated all our ideas of distance. We could only tell 
that we approached it by its growing larger, and could 
only infer that it signified that a house was near. 

We shouted at the top of our voices : '* Are we in the 
road to Eggleston's Springs?" 

^'Yes," came in reply a gruff voice: then followed 
something indistinct about a "fork" in the road and 
keeping by the side of a fence. 

"But, my friend," I remonstrated, " I can't see any 
fence — I can't see anything." 
12 



134 T^HE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

''I can't help that," was the boor's reply; and the 
door must have been slammed to, for the light suddenly 
disappeared. 

There was evidently no prospect of any hospitable re- 
source here. We rode on through the darkness and the 
rain, Warren, in front, trusting to the eyes and instinct 
of his faithful steed. In miserable plight we toiled 
through the storm, blind, wet, dogged, with the cold 
wind smiting our faces, insensible now to its really sub- 
lime effect, as, like an invisible army with chariots, it 
rumbled far away up the mountain sides. We must have 
gone a mile or so, when, just as a blast of wind cut fiercely 
over our heads, I heard a sharp exclamation in front — 

''I've lost my hat !" 

Expressions of sympathy were of no avail. Warren 
could not spare his hat, but in such a storm it might have 
lodged near by, or it might have been blown a quarter of 
a mile away. I found that Warren had dismounted, for 
he felt his way to me, and requested me to hold his horse 
while he attempted to light a match under the folds of 
his cloak. 

" What in the world are you going to do?" I asked. 

''I'm going to find my hat," was the reply. 

A match was lighted after repeated failures, then a wisp 
of paper, which showed a fence near by. The rails were 
torn down, and we soon had, by aid of the wind, a fierce 
fire burning. It was a wild scene — the fire hissing through 
the rain, and throwing its twisted arms up into the black 
sky ; Warren, his head bound by a white handkerchief, 
flourishing a pine torch as he traversed the road for a 
hundred yards, searching for the lost hat ; while far away 
some alarmed dogs bayed at this unexpected apparition 
of the night. We had searched in vain for a full half 



A TRIP TO NEW RIVER. 135 

hour, and, were on the point of despairing, when I heard 
a glad cry from Warren. He had found his hat : it had 
been lodged fifty yards away in a corner of the fence. 

Having warmed ourselves at the fire before extinguish- 
ing it — and not before, weary and disgusted, I had pro- 
posed to spend the night by it — we remounted for the 
prosecution of our journey. Warren was sure that it was 
a plain road to the springs ; the horses would easily find 
it ; the rain was diminishing, and it was yet early in the 
night. We plucked up our spirits, and ventured a jog- 
trot in the darkness. Our steeds had their own way, 
except occasionally an application of the spur when they 
showed an unwillingness to proceed. 

We had just supposed we had gone far enough to look 
out for the lights of the springs, when ' ' swash, " " swash, ' ' 
came something in my face, then a stroke on the knee, 
and then some obstruction overhead that nearly dragged 
me from my saddle. The evidences were unmistakable : 
I had been smitten by boughs of trees : we were in the 
woods ! Nothing could be seen around us \ it was pitch- 
dark, and the rain was yet falling. I twisted a piece of 
newspaper out of my pocket to make a torch. Warren 
had but one match left. It fizzled, and then expired 
before I could reach the paper to it. In dogged despera- 
tion I would have rolled from my mule, have put my back 
against a tree and have waited for the morning. But 
Warren was more resolute and vigorous. Having dis- 
mounted, he twisted a white handkerchief around his 
hat as a signal in the darkness, and commenced to feel 
for signs of a road. I could only follow helplessly through 
the darkness after the white speck, holding out my hands 
for fear of limbs of the trees that might strike me. After 
groping about some time, Warren was sure that he had 



136 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

got into some sort of a road. It was strewn with the loose 
and rotting soil of the woods, but he could feel hard 
earth at times, and prints of wheels in it. It afterward 
proved, as we learned next day, a mere wagon trace to 
bring out wood cut in the forest ; and that my companion 
should have discovered this exit was, as he claimed, sheer 
luck, although in the confidence he had now established 
in me I was disposed to give him credit for some of that 
mysterious woodcraft which is supposed to be learned in 
the mountains. 

It was only by signs of feeling that Warren, after a 
while, could determine that we had come out into a main 
road. The question now was, which way to turn. In this 
instance Warren's luck forsook him, for we turned to the 
right, exactly away from the route we should have pursued 
to Eggleston's Springs, the lights of which, as we discov- 
ered next day, were not half a mile to the left, under a 
hill on the brow of which we had hesitated. We must 
have traveled three miles : not a light visible, not a sound 
heard but the groanings of the dying storm or the splashes 
of the feet of our slow steeds through puddle and mud, 
assuring us that we were on a well-traveled road. Suddenly, 
Warren drew rein and commenced hallooing. He told 
me to join in, and for several minutes we yelled like mad- 
men, although I had no idea what the demonstration was 
intended for. A distant barking of dogs at last replied, 
and I found that Warren had ingeniously sought in this 
way to find whether any human habitations were near. 
We rode toward the sound of the barking, exciting it 
whenever it ceased by renewed yells, so as to get fresh 
indications of our way. Soon the barking became furious, 
and we judged that we were near some house. We hal- 
looed with increased zeal : there must have been half a 



A TRIP TO NEW RIVER, 137 

dozen dogs barking in line before us, but there was no 
reply of any human voice. 

"This won't do," exclaimed Warren ; 'Met us make 
our way through the dogs and find the house." I could 
hear him urging his horse forward. From a passionate 
exclamation I understood that the animal recoiled, and 
that he had dismounted to lead it. Suddenly the white 
crown made by the handkerchief around his hat disap- 
peared, as if swallowed up in the ground. 

A laugh reassured me. Warren had tumbled some six 
feet down a bank, but was uninjured, and was already on 
his feet. 

Just then a strong but kindly voice quieted the dogs 
and greeted our ears. ''Why, stranger, what's got hold 
of you?" The owner of the voice, as far as he could be 
perceived in the dark when he had come up to us, was a 
large man, bareheaded. He had been aroused from his 
bed evidently in haste. We explained our situation. 
The man replied he had "no shelter fitten for strangers," 
but very civilly gave us directions by which we might 
make a circuit on main roads two miles and a half to the 
springs. But he added that, the springs being in the next 
valley, there was a rough path over the ridge of the 
mountain that might take us there in half a mile. 

I told him I was distressed and in poor health, and 
unwilling to trust the road. Would he guide us by the 
near way ? and I would pay him anything he asked for 
the service. 

"Well, gentlemen," he replied, "I will take you 
across the mountain." Taking hold of Warren's bridle, 
he struck out in the dark, my mule following (for I had 
found that I could always trust the beast for that~). I 
could tell that we were ascending a mountain only from 
12* 



138 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

the spasmodic action of Jacky's back and the necessity 
of clutching his scant mane. We were half an hour 
making the ascent. Then the mule commenced stepping 
down, down, as into a gulf of darkness, and as if its 
lowest depth never would be reached. But I had become 
desperate; the reins dangled loosely on Jacky's neck, 
and I no longer thought of precipices or chasms. 

Presently the mule's feet sounded on a hard, level road, 
and the cheerful lights of Eggleston's Springs were seen 
not a hundred yards away. I rode to the side of our 
faithful guide. The noble, hardy fellow, to my surprise, 
had come bareheaded all the way. I felt his shaggy 
hair drenched with the rain as I reached out my hand in 
the dark to grope for and to grasp his hard fist in token 
of my gratitude. I asked, "What shall I pay you, my 
good sir, for your great kindness?" 

''■Not a cent, stranger," he replied, quietly. "I am 
jes' glad I got you out of bein' lost," 

Again and again we pressed money upon him, or that 
he would come to the springs and let us entertain him for 
the night. He would take no reward, and must return 
to his house. The beautiful and touching grace of the 
act of kindness done by this simple mountaineer was that 
he made nothing of it, and seemed to be surprised that 
we thought it remarkable. Yet this man had left his 
comfortable bed, gone out in the darkness to strangers, 
who might have been murderers or marauders for aught 
he knew, and at their simple request had gone with them, 
uncovered, through the rain, toiling in mud up and down 
a rough mountain ; and now, storm-drenched, at mid- 
night, having to make his way back home, this poor 
fellow — a man who worked hard for his scanty bread — 
who perhaps bitterly knew the value of money — refused 



EGGLESTON'S WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 139 

the least reward for what he had done, and was satisfied 
to take with him on the dark, rough path on which he 
was to grope back through the unceasing storm, the con- 
sciousness of having done a kindness to strangers ! 

Truly this world is made up of different people ; but 
never have I been so touched by the lesson of something 
good and noble in human nature, never have I thought 
better of my fellow-men, never more sincerely thanked 
God for what there is in this beautiful world, than when 
shaking by the hand this rough inhabitant of the moun- 
tains, this true nobleman of Nature found in the forest. 

The name of this man is George H. Williams ; and I 
record it here as an expression of gratitude and of admi- 
ration, which I am sure the reader will respect. 

. . . The attention and kindness of our bustling host 
of the springs soon consoled the fatigues of our journey. 
It is sufficient to say that the prospects of good cheer 
which Warren had held out were more than fulfilled ; 
and when, long after midnight, I retired to bed, coiled 
in clean and delicious sheets, it was with a sense of well- 
earned rest, a luxury of fatigue even sweeter than the 
sleep that blunted it. 

EGGLESTON's white sulphur springs SCENERY OF 

NEW RIVER. 

When next morning I put aside the curtain from my 
window, it seemed that I had been transported into 
Fairyland. The experiences of the journey yet bewild- 
ered the brain ; the black night, the voices of the storm, 
the dark, muttering mountains — and I woke out of these 
to see a beautiful river carrying rich freights of the 
morning sunshine by my window, and washing what, 



140 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

partially seen, seemed to be the broken, scarred wall of 
a ruined castle. 

I was looking at some of the most beautiful cliffs of 
New river. Eggleston's Springs is situated on a green 
knoll. New river bends here nearly to doubling, but a 
calm, majestic bend, with no anger of the stream at loss 
of distance, not a ripple to show that it is disturbed in 
its course, no sign of vexation in the graceful movement. 

The scene is at once lovely and grand. My first sur- 
prise was, that a resort so attractive had been found out by 
so few seeking health and pleasure in the mountains of 
Virginia, for the water of the spring is said to be of un- 
surpassed virtues, and completes the attractions of the 
place. The water has not been analyzed, but it is 
strongly sulphurous, perhaps more so than the famous 
Greenbrier water — so strong that we were told that in 
ante-bellum times, when the happy custom was of carrying 
silver coins in the pockets, they would be found tarnish- 
ed from the insensible perspiration after a few days' use 
of the water, so thoroughly did it saturate the system. 
There were only about seventy visitors here in the sum- 
mer of 1869, although the excellent accommodations 
might have admitted more. It is a pity that the place is 
so far removed from the railroad ; but there has recently 
been discovered a mode of access to it which we think 
far preferable to the stage-coach, and of so inviting and 
romantic a nature that Mr, Eggleston might well advertise 
it as a new sensation for the tourist in Virginia. It is to 
leave the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad at New river 
bridge, and to float down the stream twenty-five miles in 
one of the batteaux which navigate it, the current of the 
stream taking the boat slowly down through a scenery 
most grand and picturesque, upon which the eyes of the 



EGGLESTON'S WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 141 

floating passenger may constantly feast. It is a journey 
that may be done in six or seven hours of daylight ; and 
the batteau may be rigged with a shelter from the sun, 
and may be easily equipped with whatever comforts may 
be required. Some ladies from New Orleans had adopted 
this mode of reaching the springs ; they had had music 
on the water ; there were wonders to tell of a scenery such 
as they had never seen before, a diorama of the banks of 
New river ; and they were enthusiastic in praises of the 
delightful and romantic conveyance, which they had pre- 
ferred to that ordinarily adopted by the traveler. 

Yet they had only got glimpses of the scenery of New 
river. It is a wonder for a hundred miles. Just at the 
springs there is a picture of rock-work the effects of which 
are absolutely startling. The various forms of it are desig- 
nated by such classical names as '• Pompey's Pillar," 
*^ Caesar's Arch," ''Vulcan's Anvil," etc. Just where 
the river bends it is one hundred and twenty yards wide, 
and towering clean out of the blue water are majestic 
cliffs of clean gray rock two hundred and ninety-five feet 
high. The stream is one hundred and fifty feet deep at 
their base. The grotesque shapes of the cliffs startle us 
with resemblances ; it is a Titanic world by moonlight ; 
and we may imagine the slow, sinuous water creeping 
under the shadow of a giant's castle. 

Following the stream a few miles from Eggleston's, we 
come to the ''Narrows," where it passes through Peters' 
Mountains. This ragged defile was a well-known strategic 
point in the late war, and the headquarters of the North- 
western army of Virginia was kept near it until Cox's 
raid in 1863. The scene is about three miles north-west 
of Parisburg, the county seat of Giles. The town is at 
the extremity of a mountain, which rises over the scene, 



142 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

and which is poetically named " Angel's Rest." From 
the banks of New river it appears to be a peaked summit 
scantily garnished with shrub-like trees, but there is said 
to be a beautiful piece of flat and open land on top. 

Yet many miles farther away there rises another charac- 
teristic landmark in the gallery of scenery which New 
river affords. It is Hawk's Nest, ten miles from where 
New river joins with the Gauley and makes Kanawha river 
proper — a scene beyond the boundaries of our tour. 
Although not afforded a visit here, the writer may com- 
plete what he has designed as a rapid sketch of the 
remarkable scenery traversed by New river with a descrip- 
tion of Hawk's Nest, or Marshall's Pillar, credited to a 
European traveler. His impressions standing on this 
observatory are thus recorded in beautiful and thoughtful 
language: "Beneath and before you is spread a lovely 
valley. The peaceful river glides down it, reflecting, like 
a mirror, all the lights of heaven — washes the base of the 
rocks on which you are standing, and then winds away 
into another valley at your right. The trees of the wood, 
in all their variety, stand out on the verdant bottoms, 
with their heads in the sun, and casting their shadows at 
their feet, but so diminished as to look more like the 
picture of the things than the things themselves. The 
green hills rise on either hand and all around, and give 
completeness and beauty to the scene ; and beyond these 
appears the gray outline of the more distant mountains, 
bestowing grandeur to what was supremely beautiful. It 
is exquisite. It conveys to you the idea of perfect solitude. 
The hand of man, the foot of man, seem never to have 
touched that valley. To you, though placed in the midst 
of it, it seems altogether inaccessible. You long to stroll 
along the margin of those sweet waters and repose under 




LITTLE STONY FALLS. 



Page 143. 



LITTLE STONY FALLS. 143 

the shadows of those beautiful trees ; but it looks impos- 
sible. It is solitude, but of a most soothing, not of an 
appalling character — where Sorrow might learn to forget 
her griefs, and Folly begin to be wise and happy." 

Beautiful, generous river, that bestows such scenes on 
the lover of Nature and gives such noble places for the 
meditations of man, the purification and strengthening 
of the soul of the wanderer ! It should be the pride of 
Virginia, as the Rhine is of Germany. ''The Rhine! 
the Rhine ! a blessing on the Rhine ! ' ' sings its wor- 
shiper. And a blessing, too, on our beautiful Virginia 
river — not, like it, flowing by ruins of ancient castles grim 
and hoar, and " reeling onward through vineyards in a 
triumphal march, like Bacchus crowned and drunken," 
but passing in solemn pace the eternal rocks which Nature 
has sunk deeper than man ever made foundations for his 
work, the shadows of enduring castles on its silver breast, 
and its pure waters washing like a sacrifice the feet of the 
great mountains. 

LITTLE STONY FALLS. 

Little Stony Creek is a tributary worthy of New river. 
We had to ride seven miles from Eggleston's Springs to 
find it, hid, as it is, in a deep and narrow valley. Hitch- 
ing our steeds at a saw-mill worked by the beautiful 
stream, we provided ourselves with redoubtable pilgrims' 
staffs to assist on the rugged path to the Falls, half a 
mile below. 

The path was by or near the side of the stream, the 
sound of which, tearing through a channel piled with 
rock and broken into a succession of small falls, guided 
us through the thick laurel, even when the swift and 



144 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

clamorous water was not in sight. The stream averages 
a width of fifteen or eighteen feet, but the descent is 
great, and the water rushes through a decD channel with 
the volume and contention of a mountain torrent. At 
times it darts by us with arrowy swiftness ; a cape of 
rock wounds its side, and it writhes for a moment on it ; 
again it passes into cascades, with here and there a 
divided current wandering playfully away to a worn 
basin, and throwing drops of silver water up into the air. 

The path was rough and difficult enough to please any 
romantic notions. At one place, where we had to cross 
the stream, we found the rude bridge had been swept 
away, and our only resource was to "coon " a small tree, 
thick with branches, that was found lower down, fallen 
across the chasm. The process is to straddle the tree 
and work the body along by the hands, with the neces- 
sity of "spraddling" in a very ungraceful manner when- 
ever a limb putting out from the body of the tree is 
encountered. I was some time working my passage, and 
I found that Warren, who was in my rear, had been 
amusing himself making a pencil sketch of the perform- 
ance. 

But there was no time for idling, for the sound of the 
great Falls was already in our ears. Spanning a turn of 
the stream, we come to a decayed wooden walk just on 
the brow of the Falls, and affording an excellent view. 
The water descends sixty feet clear, and then breaks in 
wild confusion upon a succession of short falls, and then 
rocks itself in a wide, worn basin fifty feet deep. The 
impetuosity of the stream has before been spoken of, 
but here it is grand \ it does not fall, but it leaps far out 
into the air, and we might easily stand between it and 
the wall of black rock that measures the descent. With 



SALT POND. 145 

a fierce, almost deafening sound the stream springs over 
the chasm. It is fearfully lifelike, and makes one invol- 
untarily shudder as the torrent, with frothy lip and wild 
scream, leaps by us to the torture of the rocks below. 

At the foot of the Falls the scene and sounds are less 
terrific. We hear the incessant trampling of the waters 
on the succession of the short falls below. There are 
graceful shadows on the rocky face of the cliff ; miniature 
rainbows hang around the falling waters ; and for a hun- 
dred yards, such is the force of the main fall, the mist 
floats in the sunbeams and dances in our faces. The 
framing of the picture is curious. The entire structure 
of rock is seamed like masonry, and the abutments are 
almost as well defined as if the hand of man had reared 
them there. But the yet further surroundings of the 
scene overpower the suggestion of Art having intruded 
here. A mountain crested with towering plumes guards 
the scene, and Nature reigns in unbroken grandeur 
around. 

SALT POND. 

Three miles farther we had to go to see Salt Pond, 
and we proceeded across the country at a rapid pace, so 
as to get a view of it before the expiration of the day. 

The first view of this wonder of Nature, as obtained 
from a turn of the road half a mile distant, was a disap- 
pointment. It looked like any large mill-pond, and 
there was nothing in the contracted surroundings — this 
strange water being sunk in a cup, as it were, deep in the 
mountain side — to tell us that we were looking upon a 
lake suspended four tho isand five hundred feet above the 
level of the sea. A nearer view disclosed some beauties 
in the scenery. The bright, translucent water is held 
13 K 



146 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

sparkling in a bowl of forest green, a shaded walk winds 
along its banks, and from a surface smooth as a mirror 
arise the dead tops of giant trees that the water has sub- 
merged without overwhelming. 

The lake is three-quarters of a mile long, and will 
average a third of a mile in width. It approaches the 
form of an ellipse, with one side flattened or bent into a 
shallow crescent. Contrary to the suggestion of its rude 
and inappropriate name, it is a lake of pure fresh water, 
not the least saline trace in it. It obtained its name 
from the circumstance of a tradition that there was once 
a famous "salt lick" here, frequented by immense herds 
of elk, buffalo, deer and other wild animals. 

The interest that attaches to the lake is the mystery of 
its source. There is no visible stream to feed it. At its 
eastern termination it is enclosed by a huge pile of rocks, 
and there is no exit but one recently made by an act of 
vandalism of some wretch, who has cut out a "race" to 
drain its waters for a saw-mill. As yet, the diminution 
of the water has not been considerable from the act of 
this savage, although we could perceive that it had fallen 
some two or three feet from the old water-line on its 
banks. However, when we consider the mysterious depths 
of this wonderful lake, we can have no fear of its disap- 
pearance unless from yet hidden causes that Nature com- 
mands. It is said to have been forming and to have 
been gradually enlarging for more than sixty years, its 
first appearance having been noticed in 1804. It has 
been steadily increasing since then, having risen twenty- 
five feet within the memory of persons living near ' it. 
It has never been affected by drouths ; and although the 
water has not the least trace of stagnation, and is fresh 
enough to be taken to our lips, it has never been inhab- 



SALT POND. 147 

• 

ited by fish, and it is said that all of the finny tribe placed 
in it have not died, but strangely disappeared. 

The surpassing wonder is that in some parts it is im- 
fathomable. A boat carried us over this enchanted 
water. At some places we could look down, down into 
its translucent depths, and see the great trees which it 
had submerged, crooked and dwarfed by the refracted 
light — a weird, leafless forest yet rooted in its original 
soil. The effect was indescribable ; it was that of the 
glimpses of a strange, solemn world of shapes that looked 
heavy as stone or bronze, and was yet suspended in the 
water. Rowing into the middle of the lake, we were 
told that thereabouts the water had been sounded by a 
line three hundred feet long and that no bottom had been 
touched. I wrenched a thin silver band from my pencil 
and cast it into the water. It made a cord of beautiful 
white light, let down, down — no end, no circlet to tell 
that it had stopped, until the eye, straining after a dimin- 
ished strand, then a vanishing point, could see no more, 
and quivered on phantasms of its own creation in the 
depths of the water that mocked it. 

What can account for this mystery of a' bottomless 
lake suspended among the clouds? A popular but inad- 
equate explanation is, that the trampling of the herds in 
the bottom or sink, where they came to lick the salt, 
kneaded and packed the earth until it held the water that 
gradually collected from springs which the area contained. 
Indeed, we were informed that a common practice of 
making ponds in this region is to select a '^ springy" 
bottom, and use it as a place for salting cattle until the 
soil is beaten so as to hold the water that rises in it. 
But this explanation does not account for the immeasura- 
ble depth of water we have referred to. That suggests a 



148 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

• 

subterranean river, the opening of lower depths, or what- 
ever the imagination may supply of "caverns measure- 
less to man, down to a sunless sea." 

I had been amused by an anecdote I had heard at 
Montgomery White Sulphur Springs. Some ladies there 
had planned a trip to Salt Pond, escorted by gentlemen. 
The anxious mamma of one of the former insisted upon 
exacting a promise from the gentleman who was to escort 
the treasure of her hopes that on no account should she 
be permitted to venture into a boat and go upon the 
water. The gentleman remonstrated that there could be 
no possible danger in this part of the amusements that 
had been designed. "I don't know about that, Mr. 

A ," rejoined the old lady : " it is a curious sort of 

thing, that pond, and if I was on it I should feel all the 
time as if the bottom might fall out I ' ' 

Altogether, Salt Pond is a great curiosity to the com- 
mon traveler, and may be much more to the man of 
science. If an enterprising Yankee had hold of the 
place, a large and pleasant hotel would be built here ; 
there would be the finest boating imaginable on the water ; 
the delightful mountain air and the scenes it encases would 
invite hundreds of visitors; and all these attractions would 
be afforded immediately on the great thoroughfare of the 
Springs Region of Virginia, the stage-coaches which 
traverse it passing in sight of the Pond and just under 
the brow of Bald Knob. As it is, the accommodations 
here for the traveler are not worth the name. Poverty 
and filth surround the place. What is called a " hotel " 
we found to be a single dreary house built like a barn, 
the cattle housing under the front portico, and a muddy 
scow, pushed from the slime of the bank in which it was 
rotting, was the only conveyance we could get on the 



SALT POND, 149 

water. The large, bleak house, cut up into rooms, hotel- 
fashion, appeared to be deserted. It was only when we 
entered it that we were surprised to find a swarm of un- 
savory humanity hid away in it — men, women and chil- 
dren pigging together in the dirty rooms, and scarcely 
aroused to notice the appearance of strangers or to an- 
swer our questions except in sullen monosyllables. An 
emigrant company of East Tennesseeans had come to 
make a settlement here, and for the present inhabited the 
hotel. It was a dreary collection of the old and young 
of a people whom poverty had driven to new adventures 
in the wilderness. A pitiful, shrunken woman, a speci- 
men of the "^'respectable" poor, entered into conversa- 
tion with us. Warren asked her how she liked her new 
home. " It is a hard life," she replied; "but" (with 
an air of superiority) '^ what I mind most is that there is 
no society here." We were not disposed to deride the 
aspiration of the poor woman. A country where we 
may ride for miles without seeing a house, even a log 
cabin, where in the stillness of evening we may look 
from the road-side or the mountain over unbroken forests 
stretched to the stained sky and hear no sign of life — not 
the bark of a dog, not the tinkle of a bell — may give mo- 
mentary emotions to the passing traveler, and he may 
exclaim in the silence around him, '' How grand is this 
solitude ! ' ' but to live in it, to bind up our life and 
work in such a scene, is a thought that appalls, and in a 
moment the solitude has become changed and oppressive 
when we realize it no longer as a passing picture, but as 
an allotted home. 

13* 



15^ THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 



BALD KNOB. 

The sun was sinking when it was proposed to complete 
the emotions of the day by a view from Bald Knob, the 
top of the mountain on the high shoulder of which Salt 
Pond is placed. It was only half a mile farther to the 
mountain's summit, and we could go up on horseback. 
I had but little anticipations of the scene that awaited 
me, and, fatigued as I was, was almost tempted to de- 
cline any farther explorations. I had imagined that no 
other view in Virginia could compete with what I had 
seen from the Peaks of Otter; but I was yet to see an 
even surpassing image of sublimity, differing in aspect 
and perhaps in kind from the former experience of moun- 
tain scenery, and realizing how various is .Nature, even 
when we select to explore but a single feature of its 
wealth or grandeur. If I had not gone to Bald Knob, I 
would have missed what by far most rewarded our jour- 
ney, and I would not have my present reflections, that 
the finest mountain view in Virginia is comparatively un- 
known, and is yet to be advertised to the tourist. 

The top of the mountain we should judge some thou- 
sand feet above Salt Pond, and our impression was of 
an elevation quite equal to that of the Peaks of Otter, 
although we had no means of measuring it. The summit 
is very differently formed from that of the Peaks : it is 
a globular surface, having on the north a broken crown 
of rock, with a field of some acres of dark soil on the 
blunt top, thickly covered with undergrowth. What 
appear to be bushes a foot and a half high are really 
dwarfed oak trees, bearing acorns. A slight rain had 
fallen just before we commenced the ascent of the moun- 
tain, and the leaves of the dwarfed forest we have de- 



BALD KNOB. 151 

scribed still held drops of water, illumined by the glan- 
cing rays of the setting sun, and giving the effect of a 
jeweled veil twisted on the scant and deformed head of 
the savage mountain. 

We had ascended up out of the cup formation of Salt 
Pond, its narrow circumscription of scenery, to the 
sudden view of a new world, where we could see a 
hundred miles away. We could look into five States — 
Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North 
Carolina; we could see the systems of mountains in all 
these States — parallel ranges of mountains, mountains 
running transversely, sierras, single mountains, moun- 
tains near by thatched with rock and shrub, mountains in 
the distance whose even line of summit looked sharp as 
a knife edge, and mountains which peeped ever yet be- 
yond on the farthest banks of the infinite sky. The scene 
was hung with strands of raveled clouds ; a variable pur- 
plish tint rested on the mountains ; the sun was throwing 
across them the last lengthened javelins of the day. It 
was a scene of surpassing width and grandeur. The wild- 
ness of it exceeded that of the Peaks of Otter. There 
were no patches in it of cultivated fields ; there were no 
round and milky-bosomed hills in the foreground. The 
savage grandeur of mountain scenery was spread around 
us and lifted up into the sky. Our eyes seized, twenty 
miles away, a glittering object. The light of the sinking 
sun must have flamed on a cupola in a distant village, for 
in a fold of the purple robe of the mountain there shone 
something like a single star, bright as a diamond — fit 
clasp to the regal attire of the scene. New river, too 
deeply sunk in its valley to catch the last rays of the sun, 
appeared but as a silver thread. Everywhere a new fea- 
ture of sublimity appealed to us. We could speak only 



152 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

in exclamations. The mind was squandered by the ex- 
tent of the scene. 

On the Peaks of Otter the writer has referred to an 
effect experienced there — that of immensity of space, 
looking from the cribbed earth below up into the blue, 
unfathomable sky overhead. The sensation on Bald 
Knob was quite different, and so from a singular circum- 
stance. The sky wds half covered with clouds ; they 
were just over our heads, and the effect was as if we had 
been thrust right up under the dome of the heavens — the 
result of measuring the clouds and the blue spaces to- 
gether, as in the same plane of distances. The eye, in a 
little while, searches through this delusion, but the first 
impression is that of being just under the sky, and it is 
one of grand, unspeakable terror. As we watched the 
scene a great white cloud swept near us, looking like a 
flying ship. We were near enough to have thrown a 
stone into it. I could almost imagine that I could hear 
the sound of its passage through the air. So much to 
see, so much to think of, in a scene that changed every 
moment, and was now passing, with shadowy grandeur 
of the dying day, into the blackness of night ! 

" Many are the thoughts that come to me 

In my lonely musing ; 
And they drift so strange and swift, 

There's no time for choosing 
Which to follow ; for to leave 

Any, seems a losing." 

. . . Such a scene called for another visit ; and even 
at a cost of a night of wretchedness in the Salt Pond 
hotel, we were determined to see the next suri rise from 
the observatory of Bald Knob. We had some biscuits 
and cold meats in our bag, and a thick traveling shawl 



BALD KNOB. 1 53 

spread on the floor, with our satchels for pillows, was 
found sufficient for the little time of night we gave to 
sleep. We asked only shelter of the Tennessee emi- 
grants, and that was given us in an apartment used for a 
wood-room, in which we fortunately had abundant mate- 
rials for a good fire, grateful enough in this mountain 
atmosphere. 

The morning was raw, and so dark that our watches 
only had informed us when it broke. When we had 
walked up the mountain (choosing this mode of ascent 
for its superior exercise), the sun must have been up; but, 
although we could not see it. Nature had prepared for us 
a superior scene, and no happier circumstances could 
have been imagined than those which rewarded us. The 
air was filled with a dense fog. and, as at last we ascended 
above it on the summit of Bald Knob, we found that 
what appeared to be a great ocean had engulfed the 
scene, and that we stood upon-a small island raised above 
its immensity. The fog hung below us, around us, a ship- 
less ocean — not an object discernible upon it but the sum- 
mit of the Cumberland Mountains in the distance, not yet 
quite submerged, and looking like a thin rim of coast 
seen far away at sea. Presently the fog rose above this 
too, and drowned it, and we stood upon a single island 
under the hollow sky, in a vast, solemn ocean — no sail 
upon it, no white caps of waves, no sound of water — a 
gray, limitless, breathless sea. It was hours before this 
sea broke up, and when it did, it was as the apparitions 
of another creation issuing out of chaos. The mountains 
arose, and took shape gradually; the valleys were spread 
out and garnished ; the eternal rocks were planted and 
the river traced ; and when at last the sunlight streamed 
in full joy and conquest over the scene, there was naught 



154 I' HE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

of the fog but some shreds twisted by lances of the sun, 
as they retreated slowly with sullen steps of defeat up the 
mountain side. 

We had seen Bald Knob in its various glories. The fol- 
lowing night we were happy in telling our recollections 
of the scene. We spent the night by invitation at the 

beautiful residence of Mr. W , who did not need the 

recommendation of being ^^the richest man in Giles 
county" to establish the elegant hospitality and refine- 
ment of his home. There was a company of ladies visit- 
ing here from neighboring counties, such reunions being 
common in the hospitable practices of Transmontane Vir- 
ginia. The next morning we were returning to the Mont- 
gomery White Sulphur, going back to its places of fash- 
ionable gayety, yet places holding for us no fairer, sweeter 
faces than those we had left in the mountain home behind 
us — ^a transient, but unforgotten vision. 




CHAPTER IX. 

TAZEWELL COUNTY, THE SWITZERLAND OF 
VIRGINIA. 



How to go to Tazewell County — Descriptions of the Route — Saltville — The Alps 
of Virginia — "The Peak" — An Indian Battle-Field — Dial Rock— Clinibing 
the Cliffs — Valley of the Clinch River — View of it on a Summer*s~Eve- 
ning — Burke's Garden — Abb's Valley — The Flora of South-west Virginia — The 
Tazewell Historical Society — Was Tazewell County ancient Xuala? — Social and 
Literary Culture in the Mountains — Romance on Horseback— A Ride through 
the Mountains — Homes of the Mountaineers — Comparison of the Moun- 
taineer and the Lowland Rustic — Dialect of the Mountains — Traditions of the 
Early Commerce of South-west Virginia — " Uncle Billy" — Isolation of the Moun- 
taineer's Home — An Observation of Mr. Horace Greeley — Simplicity of a Primi- 
tive Society — A Comedy-in the Mountains — " Sal's" Courtship — The "beat- 
ingest" Dog — A Lock of Haiir — Reflections on the Mountain Maid — A Vision 
of Beauty. 




E were meditating a journey to the upper tier of 
Virginia watering-places — approached as this 
part of the Springs Region is from Staunton, or 
by stage routes crossing from various points on .the Vir- 
ginia and Tennessee Railroad in the direction of the Green- 
brier White Sulphur Springs — when we were advised that 
we had not completed even the most obvious interests of 
South-west Virginia until we had made an incursion into 
Tazewell county, described as the Switzerland of the 
Old Dominion. The whole country is a tossed bed of 
mountains. Clinch Mountain, which derives its name 
from Clinch river, which heads here, extends through 
the entire length of the county ; the Cumberland Moun- 

155 



156 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

tains also traverse it, the '• Great Flat-Top" in the north- 
east corner of the county being a spur of this range, and 
the whole of Tazewell may be described as broken up into 
a succession of mountain and valley. The mean height 
of the arable soil of the county is about two thousand 
two hundred feet above the level of the ocean. Without 
either a railroad or a navigable stream, the condition of 
Tazewell is one of singular isolation ; it suffers greatly 
from the distance of markets; and, glancing at it on the 
map, we would imagine that it would be impracticable to 
the traveler. 

But an easy route is to be found to the scenes of Taze- 
well — one that may be recommended to the tourist, not 
only for its convenience, but for the agreeable circum- 
stances of the wayside. This route is by way of Glade 
Springs Station. There we leave the Virginia and Ten- 
nessee Railroad; a branch railroad runs eight miles to 
Saltville, itself an object of interest. . Passing through a 
rugged defile of Walker's Mountain, we enter the beautiful 
valley in which the great salines of Virginia are situated. 
The settlement is at the foot of the mountain, and over- 
looks one of the most charming valleys in the world, in 
the centre of which is the curious basin of salt water, 
eighty per cent, in strength, from which a large portion 
of the country is supplied with salt.* 

* In a recent account of these salines, published in the interest of an 
emigration company in Virginia, there is a sketch of their history; 
and it may gratify the curiosity of some of our readers to trace the 
steps of this now important manufacture of salt. At the advent of the 
whites decisive evidences of the prior presence of the Indians were 
furnished by the debi'is of an Indian village or encampment imme- 
diately contiguous to that part of the valley where the soil is most 
sensibly impregnated with salt. These consist of pieces of broken 
pottery, arrow-heads, and other rude commodities of stone which 



TAZEWELL COUNTY. 157 

We then commenced a delightful ride on horseback to 
Jeffersonville, the seat of justice for Tazewell county, 
eighteen miles distant. We say delightful, for the road 

then abounded, and are yet by no means infrequently turned up by 
the plough, not only about Saltville, but at the foot of both gaps of 
Walker's Mountain, opening into the valley from the south. But the 
presence at the lick of numerous little pits or basins, fashioned by 
the tongues of animals in the soil, besides other reasons unnecessary 
to state here, would indicate rather nomadic than permanent settle- 
ments there of the aborigines, allowing occasionally in the interim 
uninterrupted access of wild beasts. Manifestly the spot was to the 
Indians an invaluable preserve of game. There are many proofs of 
the countless numbers of animals which used to resort to it thickly 
underlying the soil in large spaces. The Indians, too, must have 
found their supplies of salt here, although we cannot say whether it 
was used concrete or in brine. The pits would often, no doubt, be ' 
found to contain little pools of brine, trickled into them from the sur- 
rounding earth, and in warm seasons, or where long overlooked, 
crusted at the edges or at the bottom with grained salt. To the 
more instructed whites these natural processes pioneered the way to 
their own fii'st rude salt-works — excavations of a few feet, into which 
the brine, saturating the adjacent soil, gradually flowed, whence, trans- 
ferred to some iron household vessel, it was boiled down to salt. At 
length some more adventurous innovator enlarged and deepened 
these excavations, carried finally to a depth of eight or ten feet, and, 
obtaining larger kettles, commenced the business of making and 
selling salt. The sweep now, instead of the dipper, was needed for 
these larger operations, and, raising the brine, swung it around to 
monster twenty-gallon kettles at convenient distances. This descrip- 
tion of operations belongs to a period of time between 1780 and 1800. 
Toward the close of the last century, a stalwart, fine-looking man, 
a Scotchman, with his pack on a little white pony, appeared on the 
scene. He sought and found employment with the parties then 
engaged in making salt. A piece of land lying adjacent was, soon 
after his arrival, offered for sale. His employer, the proprietor of 
the salt-works, refused to buy it, because it had been already stripped 
of timber, which alone gave it value in his eyes. Here was the golden 
opportunity. For the slight requital, as a well-authenticated tradition 
14 



15S THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

goes through the grandest and most various scenery, and 
at the beginning is signalized by the sublime picture 
of a grand mountain gateway, through which one of the 
tributaries of the Holston river breaks its channel. We 
are in the Alps of Virginia \ and never were the shifting 

assures us, of an indifferent horse and rifle, the Scotchman became 
the purchaser of a future principality. He set up a little store, but 
immediately commenced, also, exploring for salt, opening a large 
well, which, at the depth of about two hundred feet, rewarded his 
sagacity and enterprise by the disclosure of the finest brine ever yet 
discovered, and in unlimited quantity. This almost penniless way- 
farer was William King, whose salt and mercantile establishments 
were soon known to fame, far and wide, through Virginia, Tennessee 
and North Carolina. The property of his former employer. General 
Preston, extended to the immediate neighborhood of King's well. 
He, too, a short distance off, now dug for and found, finally, a similar 
brine. Sometimes separately, sometimes unitedly, these two wells 
have been operated to the present time. 

The value of these salines to South-western Virginia and East Ten- 
nessee is at all times very great ; but how greatly they concern the 
most vital interests of both these States in particular, as well as those 
of the Cai^olinas and Georgia, and how deserving they are of the 
favor and fostering care of them all, can only justly be estimated by 
adverting to the part they have played in times of war. In that of 
181 2, interrupting as it did the supply of foreign salt, wagons were 
sent to them from almost ail parts of Virginia — certainly from as far 
east as Richmond and Petersburg ; and during the late civil contest, 
both sources of competitive supply being cut off — that from Liver- 
pool and that from the Kanawha Valley — the salt from these works 
was almost the sole resource of the whole Confederacy lying between 
the Mississippi and the Potomac. At one period of the civil war the 
product of them was near ten thousand bushels a day, or between 
three and four millions a year; and it deserves mention that this 
great draft upon the wells was met by them without apparent strain 
or material deterioration in the quality of the brine. Still, the present 
annual supply, restricted by the costliness of fuel, may be stated at 
but from four hundred thousand to five, hundred thousand bushels. 



TAZEWELL COUNTY. 1 59 

panoramas of mountain scenery more conspicuous and 
vivid. The ascent of the Clinch Mountain, associated 
with Indian memories, interests the traveler at every step, 
and at its highest altitude discloses visions of rare beauty. 
A sudden burst of the majesty of the landscape demanded 
the pause and tribute of silent admiration. The wayside 
is diversified with clusters of laurel in bloom, and deep, 
dark defiles with overhanging cliffs bristle with mountain 
pine. 

Jeffersonville is a village of a few hundred inhabitants, 
situated on an elevated plain in Clinch Valley, about one 
mile from the river. It is a grateful retreat in mid-sum- 
mer, and from its streets we may see the pinnacles of one 
of Nature's mountain-temples. A gentle tranquillity 
reigns around the ancient -village, and the sweet incense 
of fields and meadows is wafted from sequestered altars. 

THE PEAK. 

Here we are in the midst of a scenery that invites us on 
every hand, its grandest and its loveliest displays being 
within a circuit of a few miles. Immediately south of 
the village is "the Peak" (or, as it is more commonly 
called, Wolf Creek Knob), and the view is notable 
from its summit, looking west and south-west. As the 
warm season closes, the summit of this mountain is fre- 
quently covered with snow, while verdant grass is seen 
lower down its sides. But when we visited it the moun- 
tain was beautifully decorated even to its top with laurel 
and ivy blossoms. The view is grand and full of associa- 
tions. We see rising up the abrupt and rocky heads of 
innumerable mountains ; the large hills are intermingled 
in the picture; and a. singular opposition of mountain 



i6o THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

ranges, rising up steadily against each other like the ranks 
of two great armies, has its story of a fearful Indian battle 
— a scene of savage war on the very antitype of a con- 
vulsion of Nature. They are parallel ranges of Clinch 
Mountain and Rich Mountain, and here occurred, just one 
hundred years ago (1769), one of the- most desperate and 
terrible battles between the Cherokees and Shawnees, 
those two powerful tribes that so long contested the pos- 
session of South-west Virginia. The battle was witnessed 
by a single white settler, of the name of Carr, who fur- 
nished ammunition to the Cherokees. It lasted two days, 
during which the fiendish yells of the savages might be 
heard echoing over the rugged cliffs and deep valleys, 
while the nearer ear caught the sharp crack of rifles and 
the ringing of tomahawks striking against each other. 
The Cherokees, who had their breastwork on the Rich 
Mountain range, were the victors or remained holding 
their advantage; but after the battle both tribes left 
Virginia for their homes in the South and West, and the 
disputed territory was left open to the encroachments of 
the white man, alike their common enemy and their 
common master. But before the savages left the bloody 
ground a large pit was opened in the intervening valley, 
and a common grave received those who had fallen in 
this last battle fought between red men in this part of 
Virginia. 

Another object of interest near to Jeffersonville is Dial 
Rock. It is three miles east of the village, and tradition 
has it that on one of the rocks of the three heads of East 
River Mountain is a natural sun-dial. We could see no 
traces of this wonder, but from a naked cliff, rising more 
than two hundred feet above the summit of the mountain, 
which again is fifteen hundred feet above the valley of 



TAZEWELL COUNTY. l6i 

the Clinch, we beheld a scene of wild grandeur that 
awed and affrighted the eye that dared to overlook it. 
There are a number of these cliffs, among which we climb, 
alternately ascending and descending, at times peering into 
dark caverns, and again holding on to rocks lying on thin 
scales so loosely that apparently the slightest blow would 
sever the props that uphold them, and precipitate us into 
one of the black mouths of the mountain side yawning for 
its prey. Traversing this beautiful though terrible array 
of cliffs (on the top of one of which a basin of clear, ice- 
cold water quenches our thirst), it is not until we have 
climbed the sixth that we have reached the highest point 
of view, the pinnacle of Dial Rock. It is again a view 
of mountain and of valley. The eye is directed down 
to the valley beneath, with a disposition to shrink back, 
so precipitous is the chasm \ while, looking another way, 
mountains rise above mountains in endless succession, 
until far in the smoky distance the vision ceases to dis- 
tinguish the faint outline of the Cumberland and the 
Tennessee ranges. 

VALLEY OF THE CLINCH RIVER. 

But the view of largest combination and of most varied 
charms in Tazewell county is, the writer is persuaded, one 
that he obtained in an evening ride, and which may be 
described as the head of Clinch Valley, looking west, 
four miles east from Jeffersonville. It is a view in which 
mountain and valley are combined, in which the highest 
effects of natural scenery are obtained, in which it is 
difficult to tell where the line of beauty passes into that 
of the sublime, and to distribute to each part of the pic- 
ture its appropriate emotion. The mountains of Taze- 
14* L 



1 63 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

well are all around us, and in the distance may be seen 
the mountains in Russell county; while again and again 
runs across this scene the breadth of sublimity, or the pass- 
ing grace of a beautiful valley with its interlocked hills 
and flashing streams. These hills, so round-bosomed, 
this circle which the grove describes with the severity of 
a mathematical line, these trees grown up in rows so 
even or in clusters that a landscape gardener might have 
designed, are not of Art, but of that infinite variety of 
Nature which sometimes mingles the regularity of what 
is apparently human work with the most excessive wild- 
ness of its creations. 

It was a lovely summer evening when I ascended the 
mountain that overlooked this scene. I had climbed to 
a voiceless pinnacle two or three thousand feet above the 
valley for the purpose of making a sketch. It was done 
with a feeble hand. It was a scene only to be painted in 
the variegated and brilliant hues of Nature's own dyes, 
and where the hand was to be guided by a more than 
human inspiration. The sun is sinking behind the dis- 
tant mountains, clothing them in purple, gold and ame- 
thyst. Away in the distance to the north the beautiful 
Clinch river 

" Winds like a blue vein on sleeping Beauty's breast." 

I turn my eyes to the east, to a scene in which I must 
falter in the description. Huge mountains loom up, 
piercing the sky. They stand firm, grim sentinels of 
God, guarding the sleeping emerald valleys below. On 
a former visit to Tazewell I had seen them in winter. 
They were then shrouded in death-like garments of 
snow; the ''frozen music" of the torrent on their breasts. 
Now their rock-braced sides are bathed in a warm violet 



TAZEWELL COUNTY. 163 

glow, and their rugged brows are bound with a golden 
band of light ; while here and there along the pearly 
heavens glide the satin clouds, their purple slowly ming- 
ling in the pale, tranquil twilight sky. And now 

" The golden gates of day are closed, 
And darkness drapes the world." 

The open lands of Tazewell county are fit comple- 
ments to its mountain scenes — stretches of beautiful 
and fertile valleys contrasting with the stern aspects of 
the mountains which interlock and guard them. Burke's 
Garden, a refreshing and poetic name, is the Eden of this 
region. It is about twelve miles east from Jeffersonville 
— an enclosure, being almost entirely surrounded by lofty 
mountains, save a narrow pass," through which runs Wolf 
creek, a small rippling rivulet. It is about ten miles 
long and five wide, and is a beautiful, perfect level. 
Abb's Valley (so-called from Absalom Loorey, the first 
white man who occupied it), about fifteen miles north- 
east of Jeffersonville, is another delightful tract in the 
county. It is a narrow but beautiful and fertile valley, 
in which it was formerly observed, as a singular phe- 
nomenon, that there was no running water ; but later 
investigations have discovered a subterranean stream of 
considerable size running in its hidden course the entire 
length of the valley, about twelve miles. The soil of 
these fertile tracts is the celebrated blue-grass soil, strongly 
impregnated with lime, and very productive. 

There is one interest in the aspects of Tazewell, and 
of other parts of South-west Virginia, that the writer 
should not omit because of his inability to use a scien- 
tific technology. He refers to the rich and abundant flora 
of this region. A physician of Tazewell, accomplished 



164 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

beyond the usual limits of his profession, thus refers to 
the subject: *'The botany of Western Virginia is not 
surpassed by that of any other section in the temperate 
zones. 'This region/ as Torrey says, 'may be called a 
garden of medicinal plants. ' Ornamental plants, as well, 
are here scattered with a profuse hand. To every dis- 
ease of this region Nature seems to have furnished a 
remedy. If in any country botany can be studied with 
advantage, it is here, for flowers of the same class, genus 
and species are blooming for several months — those in 
the valleys first, and those found upon the ascent of the 
mountains later. Many have been the pleasant days 
which I have spent in botanical rambles on the moun- 
tains, where from frost till frost flowers are ever found." 
The county of Tazewell is, as we have already sug- 
gested, a field for the historical explorer, having many 
traces of traditionary history of the Indian tribes who 
contested this territory, and frequently dyed its soil with 
bloody massacres of the early settlers. Located on the 
line of the great Indian road from the Ohio to the West- 
ern settlements, it was naturally invaded at frequent 
times, and it is said that no county in Virginia has such 
a list of Indian massacres. Within recent years a his- 
torical society has been instituted in the county to collect 
the memorials of its early history. As an illustration of 
its industry, we were informed that evidences had been 
collected to show that the territory of Tazewell and the 
adjoining counties had been crossed by De Soto (1540) 
in his exploration from the Santee to the sources of the 
Tennessee river ; that the region was then occupied by 
the Xualans, who were afterward driven out by the Cher- 
okees ; that, in fact, Tazewell county was the ancient 
Xuala of the New World, the inhabitants of which had a 



TAZEWELL COUNT T. 165 

certain sort of civilization, and of whom the modern in- 
quirer of the Tazewell Historical Society asks, " Might 
not the natives have been originally from Egypt, having 
been driven thence after embracing the religion of the 
Hebrews ? ' ' 

Here is a nut for the archaeologists. But seriously, 
and to come down to our own times, the institution of 
such a society in Tazewell (which, indeed, has been very 
profitably employed outside of the times of De Soto) 
is a singular evidence of the cultivation and literary pat- 
ronage of its people. There is a social and literary cul- 
tivation in this mountainous country which often takes 
the stranger by surprise. The hospitality of some of 
these homes is elegantly dispensed. Some of the finest 
private libraries in Virginia are found here. The daugh- 
ters of the wealthier proprietors are sent to distant cities 
to be educated, and it is not unfrequent to find them 
giving that excellent grace to the social circle which we 
may expect from the real refinements of culture without 
the affectations of fashion. But what is remarkable of 
Tazewell, and of other parts of Virginia rudely called 
''The Mountains," is, that with such a degree of intelli- 
gence and refinement as that noticed we should find the 
most violent and grotesque mixture of the abjectest igno- 
rance. The contrasts in this respect are of the sharpest 
and most painful sort. What may now be the scale of 
popular intelligence in Tazewell I do not know ; but be- 
fore the common-school system was instituted in Virginia 
it was estimated that of 3317 persons in the county over 
twenty-one years of age, 1490 were unable to read or 
write ! 

The country is yet wild enough to afford many roman- 
tic rides through it, not only in the interest of its natural 



1 66 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

scenery, but in that other interest of the observation of a 
singular people, many of them yet living in circumstances 
of the original settler of the forest. I had determined, 
as part of the journey I had planned, to mingle with this 
people, to '^ rough" it in their homes, and to give my- 
self the fresh sensation of a ride on horseback at random 
through the mountains. I had provided, indeed, a deli- 
cious sensation, with contrasts in it of bodily discomfort 
only sharp enough to increase the zest. There can be no 
enjoyment like that of a horseback ride through these 
grand and beautiful mountains, inhaling the pure, fresh 
air, casting the eyes upon constantly-shifting scenes, and 
catching the inspirations of Nature rejoicing around us. 
It is summer, but the pointed, glittering lances of the 
sun no longer bar the pathway ; blunted and distempered 
in the cooler air, they are broken in the foliage and lay a 
golden spoil in the forest. We descend the mountain by 
a faintly-discerned path ; a deer starts from the copse at 
its base, gazes in beautiful alarm for a moment, then 
gathers its slender limbs and bounds away. Again, we 
are climbing toward distant summits bathed in golden 
light, while the virgin dress of Nature flutters on our 
path, disclosing some new beauty and inviting pursuit, 
even through the dark, solemn forest, matted with vines 
and almost excluding the light of the day. Now we are 
come to a mountain stream. The horse's feet splash 
musically in it, and we see the bright, speckled trout 
flirting the crystal waters with their glittering fins. The 
forest is alive with songsters ; and the sun, which has 
parted the locks from the mountain's brow far above, 
does not neglect, in dissipating far and wide the fog and 
the dew, to stoop and kiss from the cheek of the hum- 
blest wild flower its mark of grief. 



TAZEWELL COUNTT. 167 

But enough of these pictures. We had come to see 
the people of the mountains, to study the ways of a se- 
questered life and the manners of a strange society. The 
subject is large enough to group upon it a number of ob- 
servations, and we should treat it as a distinct field in our 
tour. 

A RIDE THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS. HOMES OF THE 

MOUNTAINEERS. 

The people who inhabit the wild country which breaks 
into a succession of mountain and valley in the south- 
western corner of the State are designated generally as 
''■ Mountaineers." They are a peculiar class, with very 
strong marks of character and manners upon them. They 
differ widely from the lowland rustic in the freedom of 
their manners, their superiority to the bashfulness and 
slouching manner of the bumpkin of Eastern Virginia, 
and the energy and even sharpness of their discourse. 
When you ride to the cabin of a mountaineer, there is no 
scampering of an astonished family, and no unpleasant 
incident of small uncombed rustics peeping through the 
intervals of brush-heaps or through the cracks of fences at 
the sudden apparition of "the stranger;" no whining, 
distrustful greeting of ''Mister ;" no feeling on your part 
that " the man in store clothes " is on exhibition in a cu- 
rious circle of unmannerly wonder. The master of the 
house advances to meet you with a free manner : he has 
not much to say, but generally his words are meet and 
sufficient : you discover that while he has the stoicism, he 
exhibits the nil admirari, the silence, the self-collection, 
of the red man of the forest ; and it is only when he dis- 
covers you to be as unaffected and natural as himself that 
he warms into discourse, yet speaking with a strange 



l68 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

energy, in loud, distinct, decisive tones, and with a brev- 
ity and sententiousness that sometimes really rise to the 
dignity of a literary study. 

"Look here," said I, ''old man" (a term of dignity 
always appreciated by the mountaineers), "why do you 
smoke so much ?" for I had observed him filling pipe after 
pipe, without a moment's intermission in the space of an 
hour. "Well, sir, I live here'''' — tapping his pipe: "I 
has my pleasure in whatsoever I is at for de time I am at 
it. ' ' Could there be any more brief or pregnant exposition 
of the philosophy of carpe diem ? 

In an intercourse of some days I found that the dialect 
of the Virginia mountaineer was not without peculiarities. 
If he wishes to explain that he is well and in spirits, he is 
" hunky ;" but if he wishes to give you a very emphatic 
assurance of his feeling very agreeable, he is "hunky- 
dory." Whatever is not sweet and fruitful is "flashy." 
The peaches were "flashy" on account of the drouth. 
But the word of greatest pregnancy — that used to convey 
the most extraordinary degree of worthlessness — that in 
which the eloquence of contempt is boiled down, strained 
and compressed — is ' ' extrornificacious. ' ' It was explained 
to me as the derivative of a verb meaning to build up and 
to pull down. A worthless busybody, a man busy but with 
little results, is "extrornificacious;" and woe to the un- 
happy wight upon whom the weight of this word is laid — 
to whom this fearful adjective once attaches in the critical 
distribution of the mountaineer's opinions and judgments 
of men ! 

From the roads running through Tazewell county, the 
writer, being conveniently on horseback, turned off" several 
times to explore the irregular tracts of mountains on the 
wayside, and to claim the hospitality of their singular in- 



TAZEWELL COUNTY. 169 

habitants. Thathospitalitywasnever once denied. Indeed, 
its abundance was at times embarrassing. "Stay all night," 
and then the addition, ''I'll treat you as well as any 
man," was the unfailing invitation on our journey. Once, 
when I had said, " Good-evening, gentlemen," after hav- 
ing mounted my horse, my companion replied, as we rode 
away, '' Gentlemen indeed ! — for I offered one of them a 
dollar for having pursued and caught my horse up the side 
of the mountain, and he actually refused it, as if he had 
been hurt by the offer." 

The county of Tazewell is, as we have observed, far 
away from markets: the people sell only those things 
which ''walk away" — meaning cattle, horses, swine, etc. 
In midsummer the farmers begin to gather their cattle for 
the drovers, who start usually about the first of Septem- 
ber on their way to the Eastern markets. Before the war, 
this county exported, annually, about seven thousand 
head of cattle, and it was not unusual to see the roads lined 
with them for miles, many of them passing to market 
through the county from Kentucky and Tennessee. The 
traditions of the commerce of. Tazewell are among the 
most interesting of South-west Virginia, and the modern 
traveler gathers from stories of the old settlers many curi- 
osities of the early history of this part of the State. One 
of the early settlers, yet remembered by name (James 
Witten), had one day, at a house-raising, jocosely inquired 
of his comrades what they would think if, in twenty-five 
years, wagons actually came into the county and passed 
along the very valley in which they were at work. " We 
think," they replied, " you are a fool." Yet in less than 
twenty-five years there were roads in Tazewell county, 
and wagons traveled to it from cities hundreds of 
miles away. The local historian, Dr. Bickley (of 

15 



lyo THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

Knights-of-the-Golden-Circle fame), says: ^' Goods were 
then wagoned into Tazewell from Philadelphia, one 
wagon-load generally supplying the whole county. About 
the year 1800, a sack of coffee, for the first time, was 
brought into the county. It was kept by Mr. Graham, 
the merchant, a year and a half, and sent back as alto- 
gether unsalable. ' ' The mountaineers had not yet learned 
the use of the prime staple of the breakfast-table — which 
is yet an uncommon consolation of their poor descend- 
ants — a consolation which, adulterated at the cheap 
grocery and stirred up with the native sugar of the maple, 
is by no means an unmixed one. 

But what is most surprising to the modern tourist is 
the size and value of farms (mostly devoted to grazing 
purposes) owned by rude men living in smoked log 
cabins, whose appearance would betoken them as dire, 
half-nude children of. poverty. There is many a feudal 
proprietor here in the guise of hickory shirts and dispro- 
portioned pantaloons. "Uncle Billy" — the avuncular 
title is only one of dignity — owns twelve hundred acres, 
a beautiful domain on a broad tableland, probably three 
thousand feet above the sea-level. There is a natural 
park here of chestnut and white pine, some of the trees 
fifteen to twenty feet in girth, fit to be the ornament of 
a nobleman's estate: there are bursting granaries; the 
broad fields are picturesque with cattle ; there are store- 
houses of hides, tallow, butter and wool; yet "Uncle 
Billy " goes in his shirt-sleeves, lives in a log house, and 
having taken several drams villainously sweetened with 
maple sugar on the day we alighted at his cabin, whines 
dismally, " Ole Billy is poor, but Ole Billy, you know, 
doctor, is bound to have his spree ; and Ole Billy had 
his jaws slapped at the saw-mill last night by one of the 



TAZEWELL COUNTY. 171 

boys ; and 01 e Billy cussed him to h— 11 and back again ; 
and Ole Billy has a white man's principle," etc., etc. 
But Uncle Billy is happy and contented in his own way : 
he raises the finest cattle to be found in the Eastern mar- 
kets, and he puts the money in more lands, which he 
farms out on shares to "the boys" — a characteristic of 
these mountaineers being an ambition of tenantry and an 
extreme tenacity of landed property. 

It is painful to notice the seclusion in which these 
mountaineers — even the better class of them — are satis- 
fied to live. It is a seclusion which nurtures some virtues, 
but which begets a habit of life, a slipshod industry, dif- 
ficult to be understood in the populous and cultivated 
old Northern States. A mountaineer will live in what 
he esteems comfort, and in what he exhibits as content- 
ment, in a cabin to which there is no access but a hog- 
path, and cut off by unbridged mountain streams, which, 
swelled by freshets, may imprison him for weeks. The 
blacksmith, the harness-maker, the wagon-maker, are un- 
known in his neighborhood. He will do his work of 
all sorts — cobble harness, work a farm with one poor 
worn-out plough — and will have about as many tools for 
five hundred acres of land as a live Yankee will require 
for fifty. The loneliness of his life never troubles him. 
Mr. Horace Greeley, traveling in another part of South- 
west Virginia (Pulaski county), says: "Coming down 
from the mountains to Wolf creek, our party struck the 
clearing of a pioneer who had probably lived here fifteen 
to twenty years, had cleared twenty to thirty acres, and 
had most of it in grain, yet who had no outlet but a 
bridle-path — no sign of cart, sled or wagon-track — to 
the road, half a mile distant and perhaps three hundred 
feet below him, through a forest of superb oak, where a 



172 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

good week's work would have made a very passable cart- 
way." This is a picture which we may see in almost any 
mountain hollow of South-west Virginia — a bridle-path 
going up dry beds of streams and along precipices to a 
mean log house squat in a recess, the master of which, 
though comparatively a man of means, has been satisfied 
for years to plod the same way to his dwelling as when 
he first picked his steps through the forest and made a 
clearing for his home. 

Altogether, the mountaineers of Virginia are remark- 
able for a simplicity of primitive life — a simplicity of 
some hardy and manly aspects, quite unlike that mere 
want of cultivation or that degeneracy which, among 
the opportunities of more populous communities, desig- 
nates the lower and ignorant classes. There is nothing 
of the squalor or wretchedness of poverty in the moun- 
tains. It is the native simplicity of the lives of this peo- 
ple that interests us, not the vicious or slouching poverty 
that comes from loss of caste or neglect of opportunities 
in other societies. There is nothing in common between 
the poorest mountaineer and the " mudsills" of the low- 
land community. The poverty of the mountain is pic- 
turesque; it is hardy, healthful; it is a school of rude 
but independent manners, not one of degradation or of 
mendicancy, as elsewhere. One excellent trait in the life 
of this people will be testified to by the observant trav- 
eler. It is the exceeding cleanness of even their humblest 
homes. The exterior of the log dwelling is uninviting 
enough, but it would be unjust to omit the surprised ex- 
perience of the traveler at the neatness and comfort he 
finds across the rough-hewed threshold. The few arti- 
cles of furniture are well arranged. The bed, which is 
always found in the main room where strangers are 



TAZEWELL COUNTY. 173 

received, is almost uniformly spread with a coverlet of 
snowy white, forming a contrast to the dingy log walls 
and rough floor of boards or puncheons. The dress of 
the inmates, though often scanty, is clean homespun. 
Their appearance is healthful : the men gaunt, muscular, 
remarkable for the want of color in the face, but having 
nothing of the sallowness of a sickly or ill-conditioned 
people. 

There are some humorous aspects in the primitive life 
of this people. But they are simple, refreshing come- 
dies, at which we may laugh without contempt or bitter- 
ness. Our recollections of a night in one of the log 
cabins we have described are preserved among the inci- 
dents of a journey in which we had much to be thankful 
for, and in which I would not indulge humor at the ex- 
pense of gratitude. 



A COMEDY IN THE MOUNTAINS. 

We had ridden far and the day was closing, when, 
taking one of those unmistakable crooked paths in a 
mountain hollow which always lead to a house, we 
alighted at a double-story structure of logs, and asked 
shelter for the night. An old woman, in a very strait 
dress of linsey-woolsey, received us rather doubtfully, and 
said she would call "the old man." While awaiting the 
presence of the individual thus designated we were seated 
in the main room j and the old woman, evidently to re- 
lieve that embarrassment which people sometimes suffer 
from poverty of conversation, commenced firing off the 
wildest and most incomprehensible questions about the 
*^'tater crop." I noticed that, whatever was the wo- 
man's nervous want of something to talk about, we were 

15 * 



1 74 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

never once asked where we were from, or where we were 
going, or what was our business, or any other questions 
commonly prompted by a vulgar and impertinent curi- 
osity. 

Presently a gawky, healthy, great girl bounced into the 
room, and bounced out as quickly at the sight of 
strangers. 

"Don't be skeered, Sal," called the mother after her. 

Sal, reassured, entered the room, but insisted on sitting 
near the door. Her first singular exhibition of modesty 
was to tuck her skirts very closely around the lower por- 
tion of her body, and then to gaze on vacancy. The girl 
had some wild flowers in her hands, and H. (the wag of 
our company) soon commenced : '' I see you are a lady of 
taste; you love flowers, the poetry of earth, as the stars 
are of heaven ! " 

"Ah, stranger, and more'n that — they smell so purty," 
replied Sal. 

The old man came in — a splendid specimen of his class — 
a stalwart son of the forest, of Herculean stature, bent as 
he stooped through the door ; a simple, ignorant moun- 
taineer, but his grizzled looks framing a majestic and im- 
pressive countenance that might aff'ord a study to a painter. 
He greeted us kindly, said he would look after our "horse- 
beasts," and returned to ask us to supper in an adjoining 
log structure, which looked about as big as a hen-house, 
but proved to be the kitchen, as well as a bed-room for 
the children. The supper was of pones of corn-bread, 
venison and sassafras tea, to the latter of which I declined 
the addition of ' ' long sweetening, ' ' /. e. , maple sugar. Af- 
ter supper we were thrown again on the resources of con- 
versation. 

Generally speaking, the mountaineer is hospitable in 



TAZEWELL COUNTY. 1 75 

his way, but his lonely habits unfit him for many of the 
offices of this virtue, and the host is sometimes put to 
awkward emergencies. On the present occasion our host 
was anxious to acquit himself of the embarrassment of 
finding topics to entertain his visitors. The man was 
greatly at a loss to find something to talk about, and thus 
put himself at ease in a strange company. At last he hit 
upon the expedient of acquainting us with the extraor- 
dinary accomplishments of one of his dogs, who happened 
to be out at the time. There was never such a dog as 
''Wolf:" he would do anything at the command of his 
master; he was almost ''like folks;" in short, he was 
the "beatingest" dog in the world. Wolf supplied the 
conversation for hours ; and whenever it flagged the 
mountaineer wished Wolf were only present to exhibit 
some new accomplishment for us — the scale of his accom- 
plishments rising at each renewal of the subject, which 
the poor man thought it necessary to make to entertain 
his visitors. But, as ill-luck would have it, just in the 
middle of his discourse, what should we see but Wolf re- 
turned, slinking through the door — a mangy cur, flop- 
eared, wet and covered with mud. His first exhibition 
of sagacity was to shake himself in the doorway, scatter- 
ing his filth right and left, and spoiling H.'s broadcloth. 
"Go out, sir!" commanded his master, stamping his 
foot, and anxious no doubt to get him out of sight. But 
Wolf was obdurate: he had an eye for his accustomed 
place under the bed. As he made for it, his master took 
in the situation at a glance with the lightning inspiration 
of the genius of a great commander, and in a yet severer 
tone of authority and with a triumphant look toward us, 
exclaimed, "Go under the bed, sir! — right under the 
bed, sir !" And Wolf did go right under the bed. But. 



176 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

as the reader may well imagine, he was not called from 
there for any other exhibition of his master's power over 
him, and not another word was heard of ''the beatingest 
dog you ever seed" — the old man suddenly jumping up 
and exclaiming that he must go out to look after the cattle. 
I could not help reflecting that the incident was not with- 
out instruction, and that it might apply with hearty effect 
to some pretenders in the world, who have just as much 
real influence in directing events as Wolf's master ex- 
hibited in the obedience of his dog. 

The old man having disappeared after his experiment 
in conversation, and the old woman having bustled back 
into the main room, we were left in the kitchen alone with 
Sal and with some big-eyed, wakeful children, who insisted 
upon sitting up with the strangers. 

H. was gallantly inclined, and renewed his rhapsody 
or rigmarole, evidently with increased effects. From the 
undertones of his voice and the quizzical glances cast 
toward us, we could understand that he was making steady 
approaches to the heart of Sal, while a giggling sound 
from that young lady and the stuffing of her apron into 
her mouth told that something was working inwardly. 
Occasionally there was a deprecating wriggle of the body, 
and a sigh struggled out. We could overhear but a por- 
tion of the dialogue. 

H.: 

"I love you, 
And I feel a seal is set 
Upon the fountain of my heart, 
To keep its waters pure and bright for thee." 

Sal: 

" Go on, stranger, it sounds so nice !" 
Before we retired to our shake-downs in the loft, I 



- TAZEWELL COUNTY. 177 

found that H. had entreated a lock of hair of the gentle 
Sal — ''yea, had begged a hair of her for memory." The 
next morning, as we mounted our horses to ride away, I 
noticed a package of brown paper slyly put in H.'s hand 
as Sal bent over it in parting. When we had got out of 
sight I accused H., and the package was produced — its con- 
tents a great rusty rope of carroty hair, that might have 
plaited a halter for our gay Lothario. Poor Sal ! The 
last we saw of her as we went over the hill she was waving 
a white bib and hallooing — no doubt, as she had informed 
H. at parting, "ready to bust a-cryin'." 

But what, asks the gentle reader, of those female beau- 
ties of the mountain pictured in poetry and read of in 
romance — creatures with gazelle eyes, "hair flowing 
like Alpine torrents," cheeks wooed by the breezes, etc.? 
Is there any antitype in reality of the mountain maid, or 
is she but the ideal, the wood nymph of poets and 
romance-writers ? In fact, it is to be confessed that the 
female of "the child of Nature" is not commonly pre- 
possessing; and, shocking as it may be to our poetical 
preconceptions, the girl of the mountain is usually found 
to be sallow, ungrammatical and altogether unlovely, a 
gawky specimen of ill-dressed humanity, having ropy hair, 
standing in clouted brogans and furnished with great red, 
clawing hands. The disillusionizing process is sharp and 
painful enough. But stop : we must not be too hasty in 
our induction. Rare as may be the mountain maid of 
the rural school of poetry, there is such a being. And 
when Nature, in her infinite variety of gifts, does plant a 
flower of female beauty in the mountains, does out of this 
remote and uncultivated humanity mould a face and form of 
loveliness, the creation is as infinitely exquisite as it is bold. 

M 



lyS THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

When this creation is found, the type of beauty can 
only be described by the word ''exquisite," and we find 
ourselves wondering more at the perfect finish of the pic- 
ture than at any separate feature. The most pci'fectly 
beautiful girl the writer has ever seen was from one of the 
mountain homes of Tazewell. The description is merely 
that of an artist : he knows nothing of her but a name 
casually mentioned in a crowd. She was standing in the 
gathering of an agricultural fair at Lynchburg. She was 
dressed in the simplest merino, and a wisp of the com- 
monest shawl had fallen from her shoulder and was 
twisted around the firm hip, whose form Fashion had 
never disguised. The pose was that of the unconscious 
grace of a classic statue. A wealth of hair, of yellowish- 
dark color streaked with red — that tawny, amorous hair so 
seldom seen — floated down her shoulders, and was matched 
by the warm light of young desire that glowed on the 
cheeks and made pensive half confessions as it swam like 
the mouldering fire of a sacrifice in the golden-blue depths 
of her eyes. The face was oval, classic, but warm from 
the glow of a perpetual and insatiate love, and the rich 
lips appeared constantly pouted for kisses, that could never 
be satisfied. It might have been supposed that there was 
some mark of uncultivation, of rusticity, to mar the pic- 
ture and to break the spell of the admirer. But no : 
Nature had done her work with a completeness that left 
nothing to be desired. The feet were small and exquisitely 
formed. The unjev/eled hands were as dainty as those 
of a princess. Looking back at the face, the expression 
of a pure, unconscious voluptuousness that swam over it, 
yet contained in the severest classical types of virtue and 
modesty, was perfect. I have attempted no description 
of the eyes. Mr. Longfellow has done it in Hyperion : 



TAZEWELL CO U NTT. 



179 



*'Eyes like the flower of the night-shade, pale and blue, 
but sending forth golden rays." Such human orbs are 
seldom seen. They haunt us for ever : the form is with- 
drawn, the face is absent — •'' only her eyes remained." 




CHAPTER X. 

LEXINGTON, AND THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 

From South-west Virginia to Lexington — Coyner's Springs — Reputation of the 
Water — Lexington and its Surroundings — " The Athens of Virginia" — 
Its Educational Institutions — General Lee's Professorship — The Grave of 
Stonewall Jackson — A curious letter from a former Governor of Virginia — 
The Rockbridge Baths — A Buoyant Water — The Rockbridge Alum 
Springs — Mountain Views — A Remarkable Advantage of the Watering-Places 
of Virginia — Testimony of Dr. Cartwright — The Valley of Virginia — Its 
Physical Geography — Peculiarity of Minor Formations — The Luray Valley — 
View from Thornton's Gap — A Recollection of the War — Mineral Springs on 
the Flanks of the Alleghany — The Valley of Virginia, as a Fancy and as a 
Reality. 

O the traveler looking from that part of Virginia 
we have been traversing (the South-west) toward 
the Springs. Region lying north of him, on the 
inner slopes of the Valley of Virginia, there are two avail- 
able routes. He may go by rail on each of the lines making 
the angle which we have heretofore described as contain- 
ing the range of the tourist in Virginia — that is, he may 
go to Charlottesville, and thence take a new departure 
by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, passing through 
Staunton, etc. Or he may cross the angle by stage- 
coaches from a series of points on the Virginia and Ten- 
nessee Railroad, extending from Bonsack's Depot to 
Newbern. The latter mode of conveyance is recommended 
for those who have leisure and taste for the wild scenery 
traversed by the coach, and for the opportunities it offers 
180 




LEXINGTON— THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. l8l 

to deflect to intervening places and to find recreation by 
the wayside. If preference is determined for the coach, 
a most agreeable route maybe marked out from Bonsack's 
Depot, taking the delightful Coyner's Springs, only one 
mile away from the railroad ; thence to Lexington \ 
thence to the baths and springs of Rockbridge county ; 
and emerging into the cluster of watering-places in Bath, 
Greenbrier and Monroe counties by striking the Chesa- 
peake and Ohio Railroad at Goshen Depot, or other points 
west of Staunton. The route is recommended for its many 
intervening opportunities; the coaches are ''slow " and 
inelegant, but they are comfortable ; and if we lack other 
companionship, Nature affords us communion and thought 
in the various scenes which spring to our view at every 
turn of the devious mountain route. 



COYNER S SPRINGS. 

The traveler will make his first rest at Coyner's Springs, 
on the western base of the Blue Ridge. The conven- 
ience of access to these springs is all that can be desired, 
and they are a favorite resort of the people of Lynchburg, 
being but fifty miles from that city. The buildings are 
spacious and comparatively new, the management of the 
hotel is exceptionally good, and as a social resort the 
place is known as one of the gayest in Virginia. 

The waters are sulphurous, and are, of their class, mild 
and pleasant. They are recommended in cases of diffi- 
cult, imperfect or painful digestion, enfeebled condition 
of the nervous system, chronic diseases of the bladder or 
kidneys, salt rheum, tetters, indolent liver, with deficient 
or vitiated secretions, and in some of the affections pecu- 
liar to females. 

16 



1 82 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

The place is a new candidate for the favor of summer 
visitors in Virginia j and to judge from the energy and 
tact of its manager, and the reputation it has already 
acquired for its elegant social entertainments, as well as 
for the value of the water, it is destined to become better 
known. The hotel accommodations, we repeat, are ex- 
cellent. The situation is on the borders of one of the 
most delightful and fertile regions of Virginia, being im- 
mediately on the line of the counties of Botetourt and 
Roanoke. 



LEXINGTON AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 

The town of Lexington is, by the pike, forty-two miles 
from Coyner's Springs. It affords another convenient 
place of refreshment on a tour to the springs and through 
the mountains of Virginia, being distant twelve miles 
from the Natural Bridge, ten from the Rockbridge Baths 
(which the correspondent of the London Times, visiting 
during the late war, pronounced unequaled in virtue and 
brilliancy by anything of the sort in Europe), and seven- 
teen miles from the Alum Springs, which are on the direct 
road to the Warm and Hot Springs of Bath county. The 
town is also one of the most interesting in Virginia. 
The extent and success of its educational institutions 
have won for it, from the red-brick and harsh-looking 
town of Charlottesville, the title of "The Athens of 
Virginia." 

There were two hundred and seventy cadets of the ses- 
sion of 1869 at the Virginia Military Institute. It was 
vacation term when we visited the place, at which time 
the cadets usually go into camp and undertake all the 
discipline of regular soldiers, performing each evening 



LEXINGTON—THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. I S3 

in dress parade. But owing to the want of tents, which 
the State, in its financial difficulties, had not furnished, 
the encampment had been intermitted on the year of our 
visit; and, as nearly two-thirds of the cadets were on fur- 
lough, there were no parades or other exercises, and 
there was but little" to repay the visitor beyond the exam- 
ination of the buildings, which have, in the main, been 
reconstructed since General Hunter's raid. The success 
of this military academy has greatly increased of late 
years, since, from being an exclusive State institution, it 
has extended its benefits of instruction to pupils from all 
the States of the Union. It originated from a slight 
germ. Formerly a guard of soldiers was maintained, at 
the expense of the State, for the purpose of affording 
protection to the arms deposited in the Lexington ar- 
senal for the use of the militia of Western Virginia. 
About the year 1836 some zealous friends of education, 
among whom was Governor McDowell, thinking that the 
arsenal might be converted into an educational institu- 
tion without any increase of expense to the State, and 
afford at the same time equal security to the public arms, 
applied to the Legislature to make the necessary change. 
After various delays the application resulted in the estab- 
lishment of the Virginia Military Institute in the year 
1839. Since then its success has been such as to fulfill 
the wishes of its warmest friends. 

Here also is situated Washington College, which in 
1869 numbered nearly five hundred students, exceeding 
the State University, and which has progressed from a 
beginning as humble as the military school in its neigh- 
borhood. It is one of the oldest literary institutions 
south of the Potomac, having been established as an 
academy in the year 1776, under the name of Liberty 



184 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

Hall, by the Hanover Presbytery, then embracing the 
whole of the Presbyterian Church in Virginia. Liberty 
Hall received its charter from the State in the year 1782, 
and in 1796 it received its first regular endowment from 
the hands of the "Father of his country." The Legisla- 
ture of Virginia, " as a testimony of their gratitude for his 
services" and " as a mark of their respect," presented 
to General Washington a certain number of shares in the 
old James River Improvement, a work then in progress. 
This, Washington, unwilling to accept for his own pri- 
vate emolument, presented to Liberty Hall Academy. 
To perpetuate the memory of this act the name of the 
institution was, by the unanimous vote of the trustees, 
changed to Washington Academy; and in the year 181 2, 
by an act of the Legislature, still further changed to 
Washington College. Subsequently, there were other be- 
quests to the college, among them one from the Cincin- 
nati Society of Virginia. Within late years the course 
of instruction has been enlarged by a professorship 
founded by Mr. McCormick, the inventor of the reaping 
machine ; and still another professorship, recommended 
by General Lee, the president of the college, has been 
added, through a donation made by Mr. Peabody, the 
last of the public gifts of this distinguished philan- 
thropist. 

The college is now flourishing mostly on the strength 
of the name of General Lee as president. It is a brilliant 
head to an advertisement ; but we cannot help comparing 
the obscure names of the professors which follow with the 
gilded top line of "Robert E. Lee, President." One 
absurdity of the institution is to be laughed at — that is, a 
"professorship of journalism " — the man who is to make 
our future Greeleys and Raymonds and Danas, the indi- 



LEXINGTON—THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 185 

vidual called to this high station of instruction being the 
editor of the village weekly paper, which recently showed 
its appreciation of the mission of journalism by devoting 
its columns to a long discussion by two opposing village 
wiseacres of the question, "Does Prayer bring Rain?"* 
Lexington has not made up its mind on the subject. 

The country around here is interesting in its natural 
features and in its population. It is especially so as the 
abode of that Scotch-Irish stock and "true-blue" Presby- 
terianism which yet in Rockbridge and Augusta counties, 
and in what is called the upper portion of the Valley of 
Virginia (although geographically the lower), making its 
head near Staunton, exhibits traits and influences as dis- 
tinct and cherishes traditions as peculiar and dear as the 
Puritanism of New England. From the Scotch-Irish stock 
of this portion of Virginia have sprung some of the most 
remarkable men of the nation. We may name Stonewall 
Jackson, Sam Houston of Texas — who was born in a small 
house six miles north of Lexington — and Rev. Archibald 
Alexander, D.D., president of the Theological Seminary at 
Princeton, New Jersey, who was a native of this county, 
and married a daughter of the " Blind Preacher." 

■^ Everybody in Virginia was talking of the drouth in the summer 
of 1869. The writer i-ecollects, once on his tour, to have made this 
discovery from the conversation of a minister at the hotel table — that 
he had marked out on the map the lines of the prevailing drouth, 
which much of the South was then deploring, and found them all the 
way through Virginia, Tennessee and the Carolinas adjacent to the 
railroads ; and that was convincing proof, to which he should call the 
attention of the next conference, of the special displeasure of Al- 
mighty God at the carrying of mails on Sunday ! This discovery 
should have been communicated to the Lexington Gazette before it 
closed its columns to the discussion of the pluvial theory. The pious 
gentleman who figured it out gave us his address in North Carolina. 
16* 



1 86 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST, 



THE GRAVE OF STONEWALL JACKSON. 

An interest which may be much greater in future times 
than now, attaches to Lexington as the resting-place of all 
that was mortal of the great warrior-spirit of the South, 
that issued from the quiet shades of the Military Institute 
here to its meteor-like career in the late war. The grave 
of Stonewall Jackson is in the Presbyterian burying-ground, 
which lies at the extremity of the town. There was only 
a board imitation of marble, with rude lettering, to mark 
the place where the hero slept. 

Indeed, the neglect of the grave of Stonewall Jackson 
and inattention to his memory on the part of the State of 
Virginia, the Commonwealth his life shielded and adorned, 
are almost incomprehensible, and, it must be painfully con- 
fessed, throw a reflection of suspicion upon the vaunted 
generosity of her people. We cannot doubt that there 
are many hearts in Virginia that hold proudly and tenderly 
the memory of the departed warrior. But we cannot for- 
get that, one year after the war, the household goods of 
the dead hero were allowed to be sold in the town of 
Lexington under the hammer of the auctioneer, and that 
his family have been unnoticed in their poverty, except 
by the benefaction of a citizen of another State ; despite, 
too, the lessons of generosity which might have been 
derived from the reviled North, which has abounded in 
attentions and gifts to the families of those public men 
who have died poor in her service. 

Yet, more strangely, it has remained for the North, 
though at the instance of a Virginian, to testify to the 
illustrious nature and ennobling qualities of Stonewall 
Jackson, and to vindicate his name and fame from the 
cloud left upon it by a defeated cause. The movement 



LEXINGTON— THE VALLET OF VIRGINIA. 1S7 

to this end is reported to have commenced with the fol- 
lowing letter from an ex-Governor of Virginia : 

" Lexington, Va., 1869. 
"Col. Jacob Hyland, Philadelphia: 

*'My Dear Sir: The admirers of the virtues and ex- 
alted character of the great Christian soldier, Lieutenant- 
General Stonewall Jackson, propose to erect at the Virginia 
Military Institute, where he served fourteen years as a pro- 
fessor, a memorial chapel, to testify the respect and honor 
with which his name is cherished, and to transmit to after 
generations the veneration due to so renowned a hero. It 
is estimated that twenty thousand dollars will erect a 
monument. 

"I am truly your friend, 

"John Letcher." 

It does seem hard that Mr. Letcher should have felt 
compelled to go beyond the State of Virginia, and to 
first besiege a Northern city (Philadelphia), for the sum 
of twenty thousand dollars for the memory of Stonewall 
Jackson ! 

At the date of our writing it is reported that a subscrip- 
tion among the citizens of Philadelphia, in response to 
Mr. Letcher's appeal, has amounted to five thousand dol- 
lars, and that citizens of New York have offered to guar- 
antee twenty thousand dollars for the object proposed in 
the above letter. Such responses are, in some sense, a 
subject of congratulation ; they do infinite honor to the 
magnanimity of some of our Northern brethren, and show 
that section in an elevated light that cannot fail to in- 
struct the mind and touch the heart of the South ; and 
they are powerful and eloquent testimonies to the memory 
of the great man whose fame has so soon surmounted the 



l8S THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

prejudices of the war. Whatever of painful comparison 
is in them is for the State of Virginia. It is a stinging 
reflection that this movement should have commenced 
with the strange and unbecoming letter of Mr. Letcher, 
and that the North should have led off in a work which 
reverent hands in Virginia should have been the first to 
undertake. To be sure it is said that Mr. Letcher, en- 
couraged by the eager and generous contributions of the 
North, now proposes to enlarge the scope and object of 
the plan first designed in his letter, and to give the testi- 
monial to Stonewall Jackson a national significance, by 
inviting the South to join in contributions to it. But the 
afterthought will hardly redeem the commencement of 
the enterprise. To say the least, an ungraceful thing has 
been done in directing the first appeals for a monument 
to the hero of Chancellorsville to citizens of the North; 
and if Virginia ever really proposes to repair her public 
neglect of the memory of the greatest of her dead, she 
should at least lay the foundation of it in gifts and con- 
tributions of her own. 



THE ROCKBRIDGE BATHS. 

We leave Lexington en route for the watering-places in 
the Valley of Virginia. The Rockbridge Baths are mid- 
way between the town of Lexington and Goshen Depot 
on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, being, say, twelve 
miles from either place. They are within a few feet 
of the banks of North river, and the road toward Goshen 
Depot pursues these banks through mountain chasms of 
the most picturesque effect. There are two springs, which 
supply two bathing establishments, the water being im- 



LEXINGTON— THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 189 

pregnated with iron and abounding richly in carbonic 
acid gas. The bath is so buoyant with this gas that one 
floats easily lying in its brilliant and refreshing water, 
which is five feet deep and affords a surface of forty by 
twenty feet for the swimmer. 

The bath is medicinally classed as tonic. It is adapted 
to nervous diseases, general debility and to that large 
class of cases in which stimulative and tonic effects are 
required. The testimony of physicians is that the Rock- 
bridge Baths will be found highly efficacious, especially 
after the use of alterative mineral waters. 

Within two miles of the baths is a strong sulphur 
spring in an islet in North river ; the cup or basin of 
rock which holds the mineral spring rising just in the 
middle of the stream of fresh water, and from depths be- 
low its channel. It is a bit of curiosity, and it is visited 
for medicinal effects in addition to those of the baths. 



THE ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 

The Rockbridge Alum Springs are situated in the 
northern part of Rockbridge county, seventeen miles from 
Lexington, and are reached thence by the main turnpike 
which traverses the county, leading to the Warm Springs 
in Bath county. Access in another direction is from the 
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, which runs five miles 
from the springs, but discharges its passengers bound for 
this watering-place at Goshen Depot, eight miles distant, 
whence comfortable stage-coaches transport them to their 
destination. The springs are thus within easy reach of 
the whole Atlantic seaboard and of the North, being 
brought within twenty-four hours of New York, allowing 
the Northern passenger to breakfast in Washington City 



190 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

and to sup the evening of the same day in this romantic 
seclusion of the mountains. 

A shallow vale or basin, bounded by hard but pictu- 
resque ridges, contains the springs, a row of five fountains 
issuing from beneath heavy and irregular slate-stone 
arches. The sloping strata are exposed on the hewn 
side of the cliff, and on top there is a pleasing crest 
of green forest. The lawns, which are within a circular 
drive, are begirt by brick cottages, but there are other 
houses of greater extent, and buildings on the whole 
sufficient for the accommodation of six or eight hundred 
visitors. Mountains skirt the plain in which this retreat 
lies hidden, and in some parts overhang it. There are 
pleasing views of the North Mountain and the western 
wall of the Great Valley and of some lesser ridges, while 
the near forest, thronged with fine trees and enriched 
with a luxuriant flora, invites the visitor into seclusions 
as complete as those of a wilderness remote from man 
and untouched by his inventions. The remark attributed 
to a distinguished gentleman from the North, spending 
his first season in the Springs Region of Virginia, and 
aware for the first time of its attractions, may be very 
justly applied to the scenes we are describing: ''It is 
one of the singular advantages of these Virginia watering- 
places that, by walking for three minutes, you can plunge 
yourself at once into glens and tangled wilds." 

The water of these Alum Springs is found useful in a 
number of diseases. Dr. Cartwright, of New Orleans, 
whose fame as a physician will occur to readers in all parts 
of the Union, thus speaks of the value of the water, stamp- 
ing it with the authority of an opinion derived from a 
special study of the various spas of both continents : ''In 
truth, I know of no water in Europe or America so rich in 



LEXINGTON— THE V ALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 191 

medical substances as that of the Rockbridge Springs. 
My attention was first attracted to it some fifteen years 
ago, by observing that the sojourners at the Rockbridge 
Springs were generally composed of invalids from Vir- 
ginia, while those at the other springs were mostly from 
distant parts of the Union, more in search of pleasure 
than health. Most of these other springs in the Virginia 
mountains have a deservedly high reputation for the 
efficacy of their water in a variety of chronic ailments ; 
but I am satisfied that the Rockbridge Springs have not 
yet attained that wide celebrity they deserve, from the 
circumstance of their being regarded as merely alum 
springs, instead of being seen in their true light as the 
richest of all that class of mineral springs known as the 
acidulous feri'uginous — a class of mineral waters to which 
the most famous springs of the world belong." 

The chemical description of the water suggests that 
''Alum" is a popular misnomer, since its virtue is pro- 
bably not owing to the alum it holds in solution, nor are 
its effects the well-known ones of this powerful astringent. 
The protoxide of iron, sodium, potash, lime, magnesia 
and ammonia, together with sulphuric, carbonic, crenic, 
chloric and silicic acids, exist in the water in common 
with alum. The qualities which result are tonic, altera- 
tive, diuretic and aperient, and a remedy is furnished for 
many of the ills of humanity — one of rare and unques- 
tionable virtues. The therapeutic applicability of the 
water appears to be well defined. It is prescribed gene- 
rally for the following diseases : confirmed dyspepsia in 
nearly all its varieties, except such as are attended with 
symptoms of acute gastric irritation ', chronic diarrhoea ; 
leucorrhoea ; scrofulous ulcers and other scrofulous affec- 
tions of the skin and of the lymphatic glands. A South- 



192 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

ern physician speaks of this water as having removed a 
great reproach from the healing art, in that it has furnished 
an undoubted cure for scrofula (king's evil), a disease 
that has so long fatigued and baffled the multiplied re- 
sources of medical science. 



THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 

We shall conclude this chapter, not inappropriately, 
by a general sketch of the Valley of Virginia, into which 
we have now entered, and through some of the galleries 
of which we have undertaken to guide the traveler. We 
propose to give only the outlines of this famous topo- 
graphical feature of the State; our object being to intro- 
duce a principle of order into scenes upon which we are 
advancing, and in the midst of which the traveler would 
see nothing but confusion without a reference to the land- 
marks which make the third great geographical division 
of Virginia. 

The Alleghany Mountains preserve this name only in 
Virginia and Pennsylvania. Beyond these States, north 
and south, they assume the proper geological name of the 
Appalachian chain, the second or subordinate system of 
North American mountains. In Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania the range averages one hundred and fifty miles in 
width ; the characteristics, especially in the former State, 
being the parallelism of the ridges and the uniform level 
of their summits. Another characteristic, which extends 
generally through the Appalachian chain, is that these 
mountains have .no central axis, but consist of a series of 
convex and concave flexures, forming alternate hills and 
longitudinal valleys, running nearly parallel throughout 
their length, and cut transversely by the rivers that flow 



LEXINGTON— THE V ALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 193 

• 

to the Atlantic on one hand and to the Mississippi on the 
other. It is remarkable that the water-shed nearly fol- 
lows the windings of the coast from the point of Florida 
to the north-western extremity of the State of Maine. 

The Valley of Virginia properly extends from the wall 
of the Alleghany to the edge of the terrace known as the 
Atlantic slope, which rises above the maritime or Atlantic 
plain — this latter at its extremity south of Virginia join- 
ing the plain of the Mississippi. The features of it are 
ridges of hills and long valleys running parallel to the 
mountains. It is rich in soil and cultivation, and has an 
immense water-power in the streams and rivers which, 
flowing from the mountains across it, are precipitated 
over its rocky edge to the plains below. It has been cal- 
culated that Rockbridge county alone has in water-power 
and sites a capacity for manufacturing greater than that 
of the whole State of Massachusetts ! 

In its limited acceptation, the Valley of Virginia has its 
head in the tract of country between Lexington and 
Staunton, becoming well-defined toward the latter place, 
thence gradually widening toward the Potomac, and de- 
bouching into the wide hills of Pennsylvania. In the late 
war it was a prominent theatre of strategy, as it afforded 
the most obvious avenue to an attack on Washington, and 
constantly threatened a flank movement on that city. 

The most remarkable flexure or minor formation of the 
valley occurs near the middle of it. About half-way be- 
tween Staunton and the Potomac two ranges of mountains 
run parallel for twenty-five miles, uniting in Massanutten 
(Mesinetto) Mountain, which divides the branches of the 
Shenandoah, and ends southward abruptly in Rocking- 
ham county. This is Luray Valley — a beautiful vale 
branching off from and thence running parallel to that 
17 IT 



194 I' HE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

main gallery through which the troops of Stonewall Jack- 
son marched in 1862, and where that warrior won his 
first and imperishable laurels. It was terribly devastated 
at a later day by Sheridan. 

This minor formation is the north-eastern limit of the 
Valley of Virginia. Through its gaps are the communi- 
cations with the lower lands of North Virginia on the 
Rapidan and Rappahannock, where Lee campaigned. 
One of the most famous of these gaps, familiar in the 
geography of the late war, is Thornton's Gap on the 
line of Page and Rappahannock counties. It is a wide 
avenue curving up to the mountain tops, and bounding a 
view on which the eye is unable to compose itself for the 
excess of riches spread before it. 

It was our fortune once to see this scene as it was 
lighted up by the glories of the Morning. 

" Day ! 
Faster, and more fast, 
O'er Night's brim, Day boils at last ; 
Boils, pure gold, o'er the cloud-cup's brim, 
Where spurting and supprest it lay — 
For not a froth-flake touched the rim 
Of yonder gap in the solid gray 
Of the eastern cloud, an hour away ; 
But forth one wavelet, then another, curled, 
Till the whole sunrise, not to be supprest, 
Rose, reddened, and its seething breast 
Flickered in bounds, grew gold, then overflowed the world ! " 

We could imagine the presence of the great army of 
Confederates which had once passed through this scene, 
catching the light of the morning on their bayonets. 
For here, even to these secluded retreats, rolled the red- 
hot lava of the war. The tides of battle which tossed 




W /,7'W - - "V 



LEXINGTON— THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 195 

in agony around these hills are replaced now by floods 
of sunshine, which come and go with the peaceful day ; 
and where armies dashed to strife there are now but 
'Might and shade upon a waving field chasing each 
other. ' ' But what memories are for ever bound up in 
the rock-ribbed sides of the Valley of Virginia ! We 
would not, without occasion, take the seals from these 
memories — least willingly in such a day, when the glories 
of the sky are on the earth, and all should be forgotten 
of the dead but the gentle peace in which they have been 
laid to sleep beneath the coverlid of green turf and 
blooming flower. 

The beauties of this valley (the Luray) have often been 
told. For miles around us is the mass of Nature's lives 
and wonders pulsing under the sun ; ' ' the voice of man 
is on the mountains;" human life touches the scene 
only to make it more vivid and beautiful. Nothing can 
exceed the loveliness of the Shenandoah, which flows here. 
Straying by its banks, we watch its waters rippling in 
adroit, laughing escape under the mottled arms of the 
sycamore tree. There is the swell of turf and slanting 
branches on the hillside ; the spaces of the deep blue 
sky, at which we look from the narrow vales jutting on 
the stream are edged round with dark tree-tops; and be- 
yond is the forest full of whispered mysteries, within 
which are the dramas of a thousand creations — the birth, 
life and death of unseen flowers. The picture must be 
badly stripped in winter. What differences, indeed, 
wrought by the seasons on all this ''pomp of groves 
and garniture of fields," and what reflections troop upon 
the symbols ! Now tresses of newly-budded flowers 
hung up in the forest, now "honeycombs of green," 
and on the warm fields the freckled wings of the butter- 



196 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

fly. Anon the yellow leaves, and the owl's cry of coming 
winter. 

The Springs Region of the Valley of Virginia is near 
the dividing line of the Alleghany, the springs of Rock- 
bridge and Bath counties being in minor formations — 
the North Mountain and Warm Springs Mountain being 
really spurs of the Alleghany — and those of Greenbrier 
and Monroe counties clinging to the backbone of the 
great range. The Valley of Virginia is not, as in geo- 
graphical speculation or in fancy we might take it, a 
uniform depression running evenly between two ranges 
of mountains ; it is broken and cut up, remarkable, as 
we have said, for its subordinate formations, a succession 
of valley and of mountain range. It is only a compara- 
tive view of the Alleghany and of the sunken parallel of 
the Blue Ridge that gives order to the impression and 
bestows the idea of a valley. The traveler must hold to 
these great landmarks, or, so far from realizing that he 
is in the Valley of Virginia, he will imagine himself in 
a wild, intricate country, where every feature of Nature 
has been huddled and Disorder reigns supreme. 

The effect of the physical geography of the Valley, as 
we have briefly described it, is a scenery the most vari- 
ous in the world. We have the sublimity of the moun- 
tains, where we may stand '' ringed with the aziire 
world;" the peace of humble vales; the picturesque- 
ness of the inhabited landscape ; the beauty of waving 
crops on a bountiful soil ; streams which seem to flow out 
of the sky ; haunts of romance ; the most curious forma- 
tions of geology ; the wonder and magnificence of the 
subterranean world. On the whole, however, the scenery 
is inferior in point of grandeur to that of South-west Vir- 
ginia. It is more varied, but, on a general estimate, it 



LEXINGTON—THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 197 

is more quiet. We have not here such scenes as those 
of the Peaks of Otter and of Bald Knob or of the cliffs 
of New river — ^the peaked observatories, the mural preci- 
pices and the pictures of great convulsions where rocks 
have been piled on rocks and timber swept from the 
earth. 

17* 




W^KlO^^iW^^^^Hi^^wl^^M'^i^O 



CHAPT.ER XI. 

ROMANCE OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGLNLA. 

Geographical Fables of the early Virginia Colonists— Mr. Jefferson's Belief in the 
Mastodon — A Curious Indian Myth — The Barrier of the Blue Ridge — Influx 
of Pennsylvania Germans into the Valley of Virginia — The Adventures of 
John SalHng — The Lewis Family — Remarkable Result of a Buffalo Hunt — 
Burden's Grant — Andrew Lewis' Explorations on Greenbrier River — The 
Shawnees — Death of Cornstalk — Relations of the Germans and of the Scotch- 
Irish in the Valley — Characteristics of the Scotch-Irish — Their Churches and 
Schools — Three Generations in the Valley — The Progress of America in Min- 
iature. 




T is difficult for those of the present day to real- 
ize the extravagance of the mysteries and the 
wildness of the fancies v/ith which the colonists 
of Virginia, even for several generations, invested that 
part of the world that laid beyond the mists of their 
mountains. From the time when Captain John Smith 
sent up a boat expedition to the present site of Rich- 
mond, on the James, to discover an outlet to Cathay, the 
vision of some mystery of land or sea seems to have 
receded only just as the line of settlement or of explora- 
tion passed westward ; the romantic wonder of a South 
Sea, of a land of giants or of a range of unknown beasts 
being always imagined but little beyond the last discov- 
ery. The geography beyond the Blue Ridge was almost 
a blank ; the hydrographic system of the Mississippi was 
unknown ; and who could have imagined that beyond 
the azure boundaries on the sky, to which the colonists 
198 



ROMANCE OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 199 

looked with constant questionings and imaginings, there 
laid the breadth of three thousand miles of continent? 
The geographical fable of the West had as many inter- 
pretations as the imagination could give it. There were 
bloody romances of the terrible Massawomees ; there 
were stories got from Indian tradition, which even intelli- 
gent persons in Williamsburg believed, of Titanic races, 
of men ten feet high, of strange forms of life ; and 
among other wonders of the mysterious land there was 
not neglected a new version of the great devouring Beast 
of the nursery tale. 

Even Mr. Jefferson believed in the existence of the 
Mastodon,'^ and that it had ranged near the Ohio, a crea- 
ture for which, in his ^' Notes on Virginia," written in 

* It is known in our day that in the great salt deposit which lies 
in the valley of the North Fork of the Holston river, a vast quantity 
of fossil remains is dispersed in the soil, probably indicating that it 
was once the resort of the larger quadrupeds which at some period 
have inhabited this portion of the earth. Remains, judged to be of 
the Mastodon (as we may choose to call it), elephant, elk and 
others, but mainly the larger animals, are almost profusely found in 
the immediate vicinity. The railroad cut, through a swell in the 
Valley rising westward, revealed a large bed of them, while in the 
ditches cut in all directions for the drainage of the lake-like flat be- 
low, they were frequently encountered and thrown out by the spade. 
Of these remains, a pair of very perfect tusks, of the double curve 
which is said to have marked them as pertaining to the Mastodon, 
upward of eleven feet in length, were disinterred some years ago ; 
but they fell to pieces by some neglect or from the effect of exposure 
to the atmosphere, although the parts were carefully collected, and 
have since been contributed to the Museum of the Smithsonian In- 
stitution at Washington. These salines were, no doubt, from time 
immemorial the resort of numerous animals, whose instincts and 
necessities led them there; and hunters and pursuers of the wild 
beasts were guided on the track of their precursors to an object of 
so prime a value to them. The " lick" of the animals became the 



200 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

1787, he adopts the calculation of Buffon, as "five or six 
times the cubic volume of the elephant," and adds: " But 
to whatever animal we ascribe these remains, it is certain 
such a one has existed in America, and that it has been 
the largest of all terrestrial beings." And to reinforce 
his speculation that such a creature had recently inhab- 
ited the Ohio district, the sage of Monticello is found 
relating an Indian account of this natural wonder, which 
was expounded at Williamsburg as late as when Patrick 
Henry was governor of Virginia. It is one of the wild- 
est of the aboriginal traditions, with a mixture of sub- 
limity and grotesqueness that makes it remarkable even to 
the reader of the period. Some Indians had crossed the 
mountains to visit Williamsburg, and, after having been 
entertained by the governor, were asked what they knew 
or had heard of the animal whose bones were found at 
the salt-licks on the Ohio. It was an opportunity for 
empresseuieiit, such as the Indian orator does not usually 
neglect. One of the warriors immediately struck an atti- 
tude becoming the elevation and seriousness of his sub- 
ject, and, with great pomp and emphasis delivered him- 
self to the following effect, as reported by Mr. Jefferson: 
**That in ancient times a herd of these tremendous ani- 
mals came to the Big-bone licks, and began a universal 
destruction of the bear, deer, elks, buffaloes and other 
animals which had been created for the use of the Indians ; 
that the Great Man above, looking down and seeing this, 
was so enraged that he seized his lightning, descended on 
the earth, seated himself on a neighboring mountain, on 

salt springs, doubtless, of the men, hardly less wild, who followed 
after them — when and how long before the era of the dimly-known 
Massawomees none can speculate — and is now the brimming " sa- 
line " of our day, one of the greatest natural gifts of Virginia. 



ROMANCE OF THE V ALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 201 

a rock, on which his seat and the print of his feet are still 
to be seen, and hurled his bolts among them till the whole 
were slaughtered, except tJie big hull, who, presenting his 
forehead to the shafts, shook them off as they fell ; but 
missing one at length, it wounded him in the side, 
whereupon, springing round, he bounded over the Ohio, 
over the Wabash, the Illinois, and finally over the great 
lakes, where he is living at this day! " 

Such fables — some of which were believed by intelli- 
gent men who have died within the times of those now 
living — none of which, indeed, are exaggerated illustra- 
tions of the geographical myths of early Virginia, a 
peculiarity of that colony not sufficiently noticed in the 
common histories — may give us some idea of the ro- 
mance which attended the footsteps of those who first 
scaled the mountain barriers of the Old Dominion. For 
a full century the eyes of the settlers in the distant plains 
below had been turned with passionate longings and 
mysterious imaginings to the top of the Blue Ridge, en- 
veloped in a peculiar blue mist, wearing an unusual 
depth of that beautiful color which gave it its name. 
The first efforts to surmount it were naturally made in the 
direction of the settlements on the upper branches of the 
Rappahannock and in the Northern Neck (the country be- 
tween the Rappahannock and the Potomac), the ridge 
declining toward the Potomac, and being less rugged and 
forbidding in its aspect than it is farther toward the 
south-west. Here the first exploring parties from East 
Virginia entered the vale of the Shenando (Slienandoah), 
planting themselves on the rich, low grounds, but gradu- 
ally venturing upon the pleasant uplands beyond the river. 
So slow, however, was the extension of these settlements, 
and so little was the country subdued, that we are told 



2C2 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

by Judge Marshall that as late as the year 1756, eighteen 
years after Frederick and Augusta had been formed into 
counties, the Blue Ridge was regarded as the north- 
western frontier of Virginia, and that the colony found 
great difficulty in completing a single regiment to protect 
the inhabitants from the horrors of the scalping-knife, 
and the still greater horrors of being led into captivity 
by those who added terror to death by the manner of 
inflicting it. Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, Frederick, in 
Maryland, and Winchester, in Virginia, were then frontier 
posts, the latter continuing to be such until the French 
were driven out of Canada. 

The first settlement of the Valley from Lower Virginia 
was preceded, however, to some extent, by an earlier tide 
of immigration coming from Pennsylvania. The eastern 
part of the Valley was conveniently situated for emigrants 
from Pennsylvania ; and the Germans in this colony no 
sooner heard of the rich vales of the Shenandoah and its 
branches than, manifesting the characteristic passion of 
their race for fat lands, they began to join their country- 
men from Europe in pouring themselves over the country 
below Winchester, following the branches of the Shenan- 
doah, and going up the Valley of Virginia as far as the 
Massanutten Mountain, where these branches divide, 
being called the South and North Forks. And here, in 
our distribution of the Valley of Virginia, we must explain 
that it is habitually described according to its form and 
the flow of its waters, and in opposition to the points of 
the compass ; the upper portion or head of the Valley 
commencing from the south, and what is called the Lower 
Valley being to the north, where it declines and spreads 
about Winchester. 

This latter division of the Valley, for the space of sixty 



ROMANCE OF THE VALLET OF VIRGINIA. 201, 

miles, had been occupied by the Germans, until, as they 
pressed toward the head branches of the Shenandoah, 
their immigrant columns were met by another race, which 
soon filled up an equal space beyond them, and was des- 
tined in most respects to dominate in the new land of 
promise. The Germans brought with them their ener- 
getic language, the simplicity of their manners and a 
vigorous industry that was to improve in a country where 
the climate was most delightful and the soil the richest 
imaginable. Traces of this healthful element of popula- 
tion, tenacious of its customs, are yet to be found among 
their descendants in Shenandoah and Page counties and 
other parts of the Valley ; but a sensible transition has 
been going on about the borders of their old settlements, 
and the trace of the Germans in the Valley of Virginia is 
much slighter than that of the wonderful and strong stock 
of emigrants who were to meet them on the branches of 
the Shenandoah, and who to this day maintain their 
strongly-marked characteristics not only in Transniontane 
Virginia, but wherever they continued to spread south- 
ward and westward, until, as said by one of their histo- 
rians, "there is scarce a county in the great Valley of 
the Mississippi where some of their descendants may not 
be found." 

We allude to the Scotch-Irish element. The importa- 
tion of this element beyond the Blue Ridge is one of the 
most romantic stories of American settlements, and is yet 
preserved with a singular fondness for details and personal 
anecdotes by the descendants of the old settlers of the 
Valley of Virginia. We all may know generally of " Bur- 
den's Grant," of the explorations and surveys of the 
Lewises, etc.; but it is anew interest to find the local and 
traditionary history of the Valley yet preserved in such 



204 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

vividness of coloring and particularity of details among 
the unwritten memories of its people. 

The first explorers of the Valley of Virginia from the 
eastern portions of the colony appear to have been two 
traders, who were accustomed to pass from the Northern 
Neck to the settlements about Winchester. Moved by a 
passion for adventure, or perhaps by the prospects of 
trade with the aborigines, they determined to explore the 
unknown parts of the country toward the south-west. 
They seem to have passed entirely through the Valley, 
for they were captured by some hostile Indians on the 
waters of the Roanoke. One of them, John Sailing, after 
six years of strange and eventful wanderings, the prisoner 
of various tribes by the event of war, having been shifted 
from the hands of the Cherokees to those of some Indians 
from Illinois, and after having accompanied various tribes 
in distant expeditions to countries then wholly unknown 
in Virginia, at one time treated with cruelty, and at 
another with distinction as the adopted son of a chiefs 
mother, ended his strange pilgrimage in Canada., where 
he was kindly redeemed by the French governor, and 
returned to Virginia. 

He brought back to Williamsburg a stock of wonderful 
stories that were eagerly devoured by a curiosity whetted 
with the passion for discovery. He told of a great river 
in the West, of new countries where he had fallen in with 
exploring parties of Spaniards, and he is thought to have 
even looked on the Gulf of Mexico. But the country he 
described most passionately, and to his glowing descrip- 
tion of which his auditors listened most attentively, was 
the Valley of Virginia, abroad and broken space between 
parallel ridges of mountains ; a country of beautiful pros- 
pects and sylvan scenes — lofty mountains, transparent 



ROMANCE OF THE VALLET OF VIRGINIA. 205 

Streams, falls of water, rich valleys and majestic woods ; 
its plains covered by a rich herbage grazed by herds of 
buffaloes, its hills crowned with forests, and the whole 
interspersed with an infinite variety of flowering shrubs, 
constituting the landscape around them. To these ac- 
counts of this strange and beautiful land, for the most 
part untouched by the hand of man, and offering un- 
bought homes and easy subsistence to the adventurer, the 
most constant and interested listener was a stranger from 
Great Britain. The name of the stranger was John Lewis 
— the founder of an historic and one of the most romantic 
names in Virginia, and one honored in every part of the 
State even to this generation. He not only heard Sailing's 
story with admiration, but he determined to accompany 
him to this newly-discovered land, and to found a settle- 
ment there if it fulfilled the expectations that had been 
excited in his mind. 

Lewis — or, as he was afterward known. Colonel John 
Lewis — accompanied by his sons, Samuel and Andrew, the 
latter the brave and beloved General Lewis succeeding 
to the greatest honors of the family, made a settlement on 
Middle river, on a creek which bears his name. The 
large design and high spirit, however, with which he had 
entered the new country were soon manifested ; for while 
Sailing and his companions were dissipating their time in 
the chase, he set about surveying lands, not satisfied to be 
a mere pioneer of hunters — indeed, showing a true great- 
ness of soul in laying the foundations of an empire in the 
wilderness. 

In 1736, Le^yis visited Williamsburg, desiring to ob- 
tain authority to locate lands in separate parcels in the 
country around him. An accident served him to obtain 
an influence and a patronage that the most assiduous en- 

18 



2o6 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

deavors might not otherwise have gained. He met with 
Benjamin Burden, who had lately come over to Virginia as 
agent for Lord Fairfax, proprietor of the Northern Neck. 
Burden, pleased with his new acquaintance, who opened 
to him his views, agreed to accompany him to his home 
to see the country and to hunt the buffalo — an animal 
then unknown in Lower Virginia. In one of their hunts 
a young buffalo-calf was taken by Andrew Lewis, who 
turned it over to Burden, and in doing so proved himself 
a provident hunter. Burden, knowing that the shaggy 
young monster would be an object of great curiosity at 
Williamsburg, carried it there ; and he is said to have 
won the heart of Governor Gooch by presenting to him 
this rare pet. Anyhow, the governor was so pleased with 
the donor and what he told of the country roamed by the 
monsters of which the pet was a small specimen, that he 
promptly favored his views for himself and Lewis by en- 
tering an order in his official book authorizing Benjamin 
Burden to locate five hundred thousand acres of land, or 
any less quantity, on the waters of the Shenandoah and 
James. rivers, on the condition that he should not interfere 
with any previous grants, and that within ten years he 
should settle at least one hundred families on the located 
lands. 

Here was a princely gift on paper, but there were diffi- 
culties in the way of employing and realizing it. The 
first difficulty was to obtain settlers. The old colonists 
of Virginia were indisposed to leave their tobacco lands. 
They lived by the cultivation of tobacco ; it was the 
sole staple of their trade ; it was the money of the col- 
ony. A life in the new Arcadia, with occupations among 
green pastures and herds of cattle, had no enticements 
for them. Tobacco was associated with all their ideas of 



ROMANCE OF THE VALLET OF VIRGINIA. 207 

a prosperous agriculture, and was their measure of the 
luxuries of life. The common practice was to roll the 
hogsheads of tobacco to market. How could this be 
done through the rugged defiles of the Blue Ridge ? It 
was readily seen by Burden that he must look elsewhere 
than to the old settlements of Virginia for a stock of emi- 
grants with which to people his broad possessions. A 
few months after the governor's concession he returned 
to England for emigrants, and the next year, 1737, he 
brought over upward of one hundred families to settle 
on the granted lands. The Presbyterians in the northern 
parts of Ireland, in Scotland, and in the adjacent parts 
of England were at this time greatly stirred by the spirit 
of emigration. Most of Burden's colonists were Irish 
Presbyterians, who, being of Scottish extraction, ob- 
tained the name of Scotch-Irish. Among the names of 
the more numerous families settled on Burden's grant 
occur such as the Prestons, the Paxtons, the Lyles, the 
Grigsbys, the Stuarts, the McDowells, the Alexanders, 
the Crawfords, the Cumminses, the Browns, the Wallaces, 
the Wilsons, the Carutherses, the Campbells, the Mc- 
Campbells, the McClungs, the McCues, the McKees, the 
McCowns, etc. Many of these names are yet extant in 
the Valley of Virginia, attesting relationship with the 
race which imbibed the indomitable spirit of John Knox, 
and proud of the distinction which the robust virtues of 
their ancestors have made for them in the new homes of 
America. 

Of the hardihood and enterprise of this emigrant stock 
an illustration is furnished in an anecdote which we copy 
from one of the chroniclers of Virginia: 

''Among others (says Withers) who came to Virginia 
at this time was an Irish girl named Polly Mullhollin. 



2o8 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

On her arrival she was hired to James Bell to pay her 
passage, and with whom she remained during the period 
her servitude was to continue. At its expiration she at- 
tired herself in the habit of a man, and, with hunting- 
shirt and moccasins, went into Burden's grant for the 
purpose of making improvements and acquiring a title 
to land. Here she erected thirty cabins, by virtue of 
which she held one hundred acres adjoining each. 
When Benjamin Burden the younger came on to make 
deeds to those who held cabin-rights, he was astonished 
to see so many of the name of Mulhollin. Investigation 
led to a discovery of the mystery, to the great mirth 
of the other claimants. She resumed her Christian name 
and feminine dress, and many of her respectable descend- 
ants still reside within the limits of Burden's grant." 

The supplement to Burden's grant was a new enter- 
prise, the circumstances of which were even more dra- 
matic than those which prefaced the first adventure of 
the Lewis family into the mountainous region of Virginia. 
The grant obtained by Burden did not include some 
lands on the upper branches of the Shenandoah. An 
opening to further settlements in that direction, however, 
was obtained by an order of the governor and council of 
Virginia, giving to a company of grantees 100,000 acres 
of land lying on the waters of the Greenbrier river ; and 
in 1 75 1 we find General Andrew Lewis, as agent for the 
company, entering upon the exploration of this country, 
lying close to the great range of the Alleghany. To his 
surprise, he found that he had been preceded in the dis- 
covery of this new area for settlement, and that there 
were white men already living in it. The story goes that 
in the year 1749 a person who lived in the county of 
Frederick was subject to spells of lunacy, during which 



ROMANCE OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 209 

he wandered into the wilderness, returning to his home 
when he recovered a sane condition of mind. This 
unhappy creature, wandering westwardly, came to the 
waters of the Greenbrier river. The features of the 
country here were unknown to the English inhabitants of 
the then colonies of America. . It is true it was claimed 
by the French, but their settlements were limited to the 
Ohio and its waters, west of the Alleghany Mountains. 
The lunatic being surprised, even in his condition of 
mind, to find waters running a different course from any 
he had before known, and retaining a recollection of the 
scene where he had been brought to his senses, told of 
the phenomenon on his return home, and described a 
country abounding in game. His wild tale found be- 
lievers, and soon excited the enterprise of others. Two 
men from New England, Jacob Marlin and Stephen 
Sewell, were the first white settlers on Greenbrier river. 
Having disagreed, they separated and lived apart. 

In 1 75 1, General Lewis found these two men in the 
Greenbrier country — one lodging in a cabin, the other 
making his abode in a large hollow tree. He inquired 
what could induce them to live separate in a wilderness 
so distant from the habitations of any other human be- 
ings. They replied that difference of opinion had occa- 
sioned their separation, and that they had since enjoyed 
more tranquillity and a better understanding ; for Sewell 
said that each morning when they arose, and Marlin 
came out of the great house and he out of his hollow 
tree, they saluted each other, saying '' Good-morning, 
Mr. Marlin," and "Good-morning, Mr. Sewell," so 
that a good understanding then existed between them. 
The^ieighborly feeling did not last long, for Sewell soon 
removed about forty miles farther west, where he was 
18* 



210 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

found and killed by the Indians. '> Sewell's Mountain " 
is a monument to the name and memory of the rude 
adventurer. 

The General Lewis spoken of above was the hero of 
the battle of Point Pleasant, 1774, which finally broke 
the power of the Indians between the mountains and the 
Ohio ; the tribes which had inhabited the Valley of Vir- 
ginia and the powerful Shawnees having retired down the 
Kanawha toward its mouth as the white settlements ad- 
vanced upon them. Here General Lewis pressed them 
in what was known as " Dunmore's War" (1774), with 
an expeditionary force of eleven hundred men. In the 
battle of Point Pleasant were represented the Shawnee, 
Delaware, Mingo, Wyandotte and Cayuga tribes, the 
whole force commanded by Cornstalk, sachem of the 
Shawnees and king of "the Northern Confederacy." 
The Virginians paid dearly for their victory, about one- 
fifth of their number being killed and wounded. Colonel 
Charles Lewis, a nephew of the general, fell in the en- 
gagement.* 

* The following ballad, obtained from a mountain cabin in this 
region, appears to have been published in the papers of the time, 
and is inserted here as a very rare and decided curiosity. The name 
of the border minstrel does not appear: 

Let us mind the tenth day of October, 

Seventy-four, which caused woe ; 
The Indian savages they did cover 
The pleasant banks of the Ohio. 

The battle beginning in the morning, 

Throughout the day it lasted sore, 
Till the evening shades were returning down 

Upon the banks of the Ohio. 

Judgment precedes to execution, * 

Let fame throughout all dangers go. 



ROMANCE OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 311 

The removal of the Shawnees from the lovely valley 
of the Greenbrier is a story throughout of thrilling and 
beautiful romances. It was not until frequent battles and 
desperate forays, by which they testified their attach- 
ment to their ancient hunting-grounds and the graves of 
their fathers, that they were finally, after the battle of 
Point Pleasant, forced to abandon their country and seek 
shelter with the main body of their tribe, then living on 
the waters of the great Scioto. 

The romantic story of their expulsion is fitly crowned 
with the death of their great warrior, Cornstalk, two 
years later, by one of the foulest and most pitiful assas- 
sinations that ever drew sympathy for the wrongs of the 
red man and reflected the fierce and cruel spirit of his 
conquerors. He was murdered by the garrison at Point 
Pleasant. 

Our heroes fouglit with resolution 
Upon the banks of the Ohio. 

Seven score lay dead and wounded 
Of champions that did face their foe, 

By which the heathen were confounded, 
Upon the banks of the Ohio. 

Colonel Lewis and some noble captains, 

Did down to death like Uriah go, 
Alas ! their heads wound up in napkins, 

Upon the banks of the Ohio. 

Kings lamented their mighty fallen 

Upon the mountains of Gilboa, 
And now we mourn for brave Hugh Allen, 

Far from the banks of the Ohio. 

Oh bless the mighty King of heaven 

For all his wondrous works below, 
Who hath to us the victory given 

Upon the banks of the Ohio. 



213 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

He had gone there on an errand of peace, and was 
detained as a hostage, war being expected with his tribe. 
/ Of what ensued we have some vivid details in a me- 
moir of Colonel John Stuart, who was in the garrison 
and sought to prevent the dreadful crime referred to. 
He writes : 

^' During the time of our stay, two young men, of the 
names of Hamilton and Gilmore, went ever the Kanawha 
one day to hunt for deer. On their return to camp some 
Indians had concealed themselves on the bank among the 
woods to view our encampment, and as Gilmore came along 
past them they fired on him and killed him on the bank. 

'' Captain Arbuckle and myself were standing on the 
opposite bank when the gun fired ; and while we were 
wondering who it could be shooting contrary to orders, 
or what they were doing over the river, we saw Hamilton 
run down the bank, who called out that Gilmore was 
killed. Gilmore was one of the company of Captain 
John Hall, of that part of the country now Rockbridge 
county. The captain was a relation of Gilmore' s, whose 
family and friends were chiefly cut off by the Indians in 
the year 1763, when Greenbrier was cut off. Hall's men 
instantly jumped into a canoe and went to the relief of 
Hamilton, who was standing in momentary expectation 
of being put to death. They brought the corpse of Gil- 
more down the bank, covered with blood and scalped, 
and put him into the canoe. As they were passing the 
river, I observed to Captain Arbuckle that the people 
would be for killing the hostages as soon as the canoe 
would land. He supposed that they would not offer to 
commit so great a violence upon the innocent, who were 
in nowise accessory to the murder of Gilmore. But the 
canoe had scarcely touched the ' shore until the cry was 



ROMANCE OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 213 

raised, ^ Let us kill the Indians in the fort;' and every 
man, with his gun in his hand, came up the bank pale with 
rage. Captain Hall was at their head and leader. Cap- 
tain Arbuckle and I met them and endeavored to dis- 
suade them from so unjustifiable an action ; but they 
cocked their guns, threatened us with instant death if we 
did not desist, rushed by us into the fort and put the In- 
dians to death. 

"On the preceding day the Cornstalk's son, Elinipsico, 
had come from the nation to see his father and to know 
if he was well or alive. When he came to the river op- 
posite the fort he hallooed. His father was at that instant 
in the act of delineating a map of the country and the 
waters between the Shawnee towns and the Mississippi, 
at our request, with chalk upon the floor. He imme- 
diately recognized the voice of his son, got up, went out 
and answered him. The young fellpw crossed over, and 
they embraced each other in the most tender and affec- 
tionate manner. The interpreter's wife, who had been a 
prisoner among the Indians and had recently left them, 
on hearing the uproar the next day, and hearing the men 
threatening that they would kill the Indians, for whom 
she retained much affection, ran to their cabin and in- 
formed them that the people were just coming to kill 
them, and that because the Indians who killed Gilmore 
had come with Elinipsico the day before. He utterly de- 
nied it, declared that he knew nothing of them, and trem- 
bled exceedingly. His father encouraged him not to be 
afraid, for that the Great Man above had sent him there 
to be killed and die with him. As the men advanced to 
the door, the Cornstalk rose and met them ; they fired 
upon him, and seven or eight bullets went through him. 
So fell the great Cornstalk warrior, whose name was be- 



214 7W^ VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

stowed upon him by the consent of the nation as their 
great strength and support. His son was shot dead as 
he sat upon a stool. 

^'The Cornstalk, from personal appearance and many 
brave acts, was undoubtedly a hero. Had he been spared 
to live, I believe he would have been friendly to the 
American cause ; for nothing could induce him to make 
the visit to the garrison at the critical time he did but 
to communicate to them the temper and disposition of 
the Indians and their design of taking part with the 
British. On the day he was killed we held a council at 
which he was present. His countenance was dejected, 
and he made a speech, all of which seemed to indicate 
an honest and manly disposition. He acknowledged 
that he expected that he and his party would have to run 
with the stream, for that all the Indians on the lakes and 
northwardly were joining the British. He said that when 
he returned to the Shawnee towns after the battle at the 
Point, he called a council of the nation to consult what 
was to be done, and upbraided them for their folly in 
not suffering him to make peace on the evening before 
the battle. 'What,' said he, 'will you do now? The 
Big Knife is coming on us, and we shall all be killed. 
Now you must fight or we are undone.' But no one 
made an answer. He said, ' Then let us kill all our wo- 
men and children and go and fight till we die.' But 
none would answer. At length he rose and struck his 
tomahawk in the post in the centre of the town-house. 
'I'll go,' said he, 'and make peace,' and then the war- 
riors all grunted out, ' Ough, ough, ough,' and runners 
were instantly despatched to the governor's army to so- 
licit a peace and the interposition of the governor on 
their behalf. 



ROMANCE OF THE VALLET OF VIRGINIA. 215 

''When he made his speech in council with us he 
seemed to be impressed with an awful premonition of his 
approaching fate ; for he repeatedly said, ' When I was a 
young man and went to war, I thought that might be the 
last time, and I would return no more. Now I am here 
among you ; you may kill me if you please ; I can die 
but once, and it is all one to me, now or another time.' 
This declaration concluded every sentence of his speech. 
He was killed about one hour after our council." 

But to return from these incidents to the settlements 
within the boundary of the Alleghany. The battle of 
Point Pleasant secured these settlements, and it may be 
considered to have been fought for them. The country 
between the Alleghany and the Ohio was yet a wilder- 
ness, while the Valley had commenced to smile with 
homes, and was able to send to the battle-fields of the 
Revolution of 1776 a body of volunteers who made the 
name of Augusta county (as was then called the immense 
territory which at the present time comprises four entire 
States and nearly forty counties of the two Virginias) 
famous in its annals.* 

The followiiig has the authority of tradition, and has appeared 
before in print : 

■^ " When the British force under Tarleton drove the Legislature 
from Charlottesville to Staunton, the stillness of the Sabbath eve was 
broken in the latter town by the beat of the drum, and volunteers 
were called for to prevent the passage of the British through the 
mountains at Rockfish Gap. The elder sons of William Lewis, who 
then resided at the old fort, were absent with the Northern army. 
Three sons, however, were at home, whose ages were seventeen, fif- 
teen and thirteen years, William Lewis was confined to his room 
by sickness, but his wife, with the firmness of a Roman matron, called 
them to her, and bade them fly to the defence of their native land. 
' Go, my children,' said she. ' I spare not my youngest, my fair- 



2l6 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

Looking over the distribution of the early populations 
in the Valley of Virginia, we find, first, the German ele- 
ment filling the lower portion of the Valley as far as the 
Massanutten Moimtain ; secondly, beyond the line of 
their settlements, the Scotch-Irish or Presbyterian element 
extending to the vale of James river, and pushed yet far- 
ther to hug the Alleghany, until for seventy or eighty 
miles along the Valley there was a population scarcely 
less homogeneous and more peculiar than the mass of 
Germans below them. The German element, as we have 
already intimated, was not so strongly marked, nor has 
it been so retentive of its characteristics, as the Scotch- 
Irish, It has lost much of its identity in Virginia by dis- 
persion and by diffusion with stronger races, although 
there are yet to be found in some of the Valley counties 
German families who are unwilling to give up the lan- 
guage of Fatherland, corruptly as they speak it, or the 
plain homespun of old times, and who bewail the transi- 
tion that is going on about their borders, and the Angli- 
cizing disposition of their children, as the degeneracy of 
their race. 

The strong and fruitful element in the population of 
the Valley has been the Scotch-Irish. The characteris- 
tics of these people were strongly marked — not less than 
those of the Pilgrim Fathers — and they yet survive to a 
marked degree in their hardy descendants. Their detes- 
tation of civil tyranny descended to them from the Cov- 

haired boy, the comfort of my declining years. I devote you all to 
my country. Keep back the foot of the invader from the soil of 
Augusta, or see my face no more.' When this incident was related 
to Washington shortly after its occurrence, he enthusiastically ex- 
claimed, ' Leave me but a banner to plant upon the mountains of 
Augusta, and I vi^ill rally around me the men who will lift our bleed- 
ing country from the dust and set her free.' " 



ROMANCE OF THE VALLET OF VIRGINIA. 217 

enanters of Scotland ; and on the dispute between the 
Colonists and the mother country, they were Whigs of the 
firmest and most invincible spirit. They were a sober 
and thoughtful people ; and it is remarkable that they 
never showed any disposition to join the bands of white 
hunters who formed a sort of connecting link between 
the savage aborigines and the civilized tillers of the soil. 
A striking peculiarity of manners which they had in com- 
mon with the Puritans was that certain self-continence, 
which, mistaken by a superficial observer for phlegm or 
dullness, is sometimes found covering an enormous 
strength of character, held in reserve and capable of 
putting forth the most strenuotis and persevering exertions 
when demanded by occasion. 

Another characteristic of these people was their rigid 
Calvinistic morality. Founded on a religious principle, 
this morality was sober, firm and consistent, though in 
some of its aspects stern, and too disdainful of persua- 
sions to virtue. They had none of the gay amusements 
common among the Eastern Virginians. There was, in- 
deed, as has been observed, but little communication 
with these, and not until roads and navigation offered new 
facilities for trade, and the Eastern planter was somewhat 
weaned from his devotion to the culture of tobacco, did 
the Valley cease to repel settlers from the lowlands of 
Virginia. 

The Scotch-Irish were a God-fearing pople. No sooner 
had the immigrants provided necessary food and shelter 
for their families than they began to provide for the 
regular and decent worship of God. They built churches 
of the solid limestone of the Valley, and they called pas- 
tors as far as their limited means would admit. The 
difficulties sometimes experienced in raising these religious 

19 



2iS THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

structures, where there were no roads, wagons or saw-mills, 
may be illustrated by a relation which tradition yet pre- 
serves, that the Providence congregation packed all the 
sand used in their church from a place six miles distant, 
sack by sack, on the backs of horses ; and, what is almost 
incredible, the fair wives and daughters of the congrega- 
tion are said to have undertaken this part of the work, 
while the men labored at the stone and timber. 

The social intercourse of the early homes of the Valley 
was chiefly religious. The meetings of the presbytery, 
held in turn by the principal churches, drew together a 
large concourse, and were celebrated as the chief religious 
festivals of the country. Except these solemn festivals, 
and the weekly meetings at church, the families of the 
country had but little social intercourse. The careful and 
religious education of their children was one of the most 
important features of their domestic polity, and was the 
first concern of the infant society. Common schools arose 
among them as soon as their settlements were founded, 
and increased as the state of population warranted them. 

Of the early institution of learning that preceded 
Washington College the following account is yet pre- 
served in a manuscript local history of one of the oldest 
inhabitants : 

"The school-house was a log cabin. Hither about 
thirty youths of the mountains repaired ' to taste the 
Pierian spring ' thirty-five years after the first settlement 
of Burden's grant. Of reading, writing and ciphering 
the boys of the country had before acquired such know- 
ledge as primary schools could afford ; but with a few rare 
exceptions, Latin, Greek, algebra, geometry, and such- 
like scholastic mysteries, were things of which they had 
heard — which they knew, perhaps, to be covered up 'T' 



ROMANCE OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 219 

the learned heads of their pastors — but of the nature and 
uses of which they had no conception whatever. The 
institution was a log hut of one apartment. The stu- 
dents carried their dinners with them from their board- 
ing-houses in the neighborhood. They conned their 
lessons either in the school-room, where the recitations 
were heard, or under the shades of the forest, where 
breezes whispered and birds sang without disturbing their 
studies. A horn — perhaps a real cow's horn — summoned 
the school from play and the scattered classes to recita- 
tion. Instead of broadcloth coats, the students generally 
wore a far more graceful garment — the hunting-shirt — 
home-spun, home-woven and home-made by the indus- 
trious wives and daughters of the land. Their amuse- 
ments were not the less remote from the modern tastes of 
students — cards^ backgammon, flutes, fiddles, and even 
marbles, were scarcely known among these home-bred 
mountain boys. Firing pistols, and ranging the fields 
with shot guns to kill little birds for sport they would 
have considered a waste of time and ammunition. As 
to frequenting tippling-shops of any denomination, this 
was impossible, because no such catchpenny lures for 
students existed in the country, or would have been tol- 
erated. Had any huckster of liquors, knick-knacks and 
explosive crackers hung out his sign in those days, the 
old Puritan morality of the land was yet vigorous enough 
to abate the nuisance. The sports of the students were 
mostly gymnastic, both manly and healthful, such as 
leaping, running, wrestling, pitching quoits and playing 
ball. In this rustic seminary a considerable number of 
young men began their education who afterward bore a 
distinguished part in the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of 
the country. ' ' 



220 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

No wonder that such nurture and education produced 
one of the most vigorous and manful populations in 
America. Amid the many changes that have passed over 
the face of their country, and affected, too, the social 
organization, the people of the Valley of Virginia are, 
as we have already said, still distinguished for many of 
the virtues ascribed to their ancestors. And how great 
and multitudinous have been those changes ! It has often 
struck us that in no part of America is there to be 
observed so striking an epitome of its progress, in all 
phases, as in the enclosure of the Valley of Virginia, so 
distinctly marked are the epochs on this well-defined and 
measurable theatre. 

Let us take three generations for our survey. Toward 
the close of the last century we find here the "backwoods- 
men" — a type but little visible in Pennsylvania and New 
England — leading a nondescript life between civilization 
and barbarism, yet one. of singular virtues drawn from 
each. This life was rude, even in its highest develop- 
ment toward civilization, but in its harshest aspects there 
was a sort of purity and romance. The men of the Val- 
ley of these times wore the hunting-shirt and moccasin ; 
the common household furniture was the noggin^, 'the 
trencher and the wooden bowl ; their life was scanty but 
not nomadic, and where we might have expected the 
shiftlessness of the hunter-state, we are surprised to find 
men with steady industry planting homes in the wilder- 
ness. Their principal agricultural instrument was a har- 
row with wooden teeth, and their common vehicle the 
sled. In the rude and ponderous industry of this primi- 
tive people we see something grand, even while we smile 
at the grotesqueness of some parts of the picture. 

Another generation comes upon the stage. In 1833, 



ROMANCE OF THE VALLET OF VIRGINIA. 221 

Mr. Samuel Kercheval writes : '' The linsey and coarse 
linen of the first settlers of the country have been ex- 
changed for the substantial and fine fabrics of Europe 
and Asia — the hunting-shirt for the fashionable coat of 
broadcloth, and the moccasin for boots and shoes of 
tanned leather. The dresses of our ladies are equal in 
beauty, fineness and fashion to those of the cities and 
countries of Europe." With yet greater complacency 
he writes of the miracle of turnpike roads over the moun- 
tains: "The horse-paths along which our fathers made 
their laborious journeys over the mountains for salt 
and iron have been succeeded by wagon roads, and 
these again by substantial turnpikes, which, as if by 
magic enchantment, have brought the distant region, not 
many years ago denominated the '■backwoods^'' into a 
close and lucrative connection with our great Atlantic 
cities. The journey over the mountains, formerly con- 
sidered so long, so expensive, and even perilous, is now 
made in a very few days, and with accommodations not 
displeasing to the epicure himself! ' ' 

The last scene comes in panoramic succession ; and 
what do we see in our day and generation ? Miles of 
country, far and wide, smiling with a cultivation the 
most luxuriant in America ; busy towns ; the most splen- 
did institutions of learning in the South ; a people prac- 
ticing every refinement of dress and manners ; villas 
that Cicero or Sir Walter Scott might have envied ; the 
telegraph set up where formerly had been the Indian's 
trail; and for sled and stage-coach, the arrowy car, that 
is soon to bear by the doors of beautiful and animated 
homes the trade of a continent ! 
19* 




CHAPTER XII. 



THE GREENBRIER WHIIE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 




The Railroad through the Mountains — Site of the White Sulphur Springs — Pleasing 
Scenery — The Springs in 1772 — Hotel Improvements — The Grounds — Analysis 
of the White Sulphur Water — Remarks on the Use of Mineral Waters — Popu- 
lar Errors on the Subject —Debauchery in Mineral Waters — A Guide to the Use 
of the White Sulphur Water — The Theory of Fresh vs. Stale — The Bathing 
Establishment — Life at the Springs — "Jenkins" in Virginia — A Ball-room 
Conversation — A Southern Editor on Society and Comfort at the Springs — 
Why Virginians "can't keep Hotels" — An Anecdote of Boniface — The Whiie 
Sulphur Hotel, a Superior one. 

HE ride by rail from Staunton to the White Sul- 
phur Springs is not the easiest and most joyous 
in the world. Near the latter the Chesapeake and 
Ohio Railroad surmounts its greatest physical difficulties, 
and is elaborate with engineering skill ; and whatever may 
be the safety, there is yet a feeling of insecurity on being 
whirled through the deepest of cuts and over the loftiest 
of trestles. The tunnels in a short distance aggregate two 
and one-eighth miles. One of them, "the Big Bend," is 
sixty-four hundred feet long. Some of the longest ones were 
yet incomplete, and in the haste to complete the road to 
the White Sulphur for the summer's travel of 1869, a tem- 
porary track had been laid around them and around in- 
complete trestles. 

The location of the springs is on the immediate con- 
fines of the Valley of Virginia, being but six miles west 
222 



GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 223 

of the Alleghany chain, which divides the waters that flow 
into the Chesapeake Bay and those which wander west- 
ward, carrying their tribute to the Mississippi. It is en- 
closed in one of those small valleys, branches of minor 
formations, which we have noticed as characterizing the 
geographical system of the great Valley. The immediate 
confines are Kate's Mountain and the Greenbrier Moun- 
tains, and the intervening country is beautifully em- 
bosomed with hills. The valley opens about a half a mile 
in breadth, and winds with graceful undulations beyond 
the eye's reach. 

As a hunting-ground of the Shawnees, and as the limit 
of settlements founded by the famous Lewis family when 
competing with the Pennsylvania Germans for the pos- 
session of the Valley of Virginia, we have already glanced 
at the surrounding country, which is yet strewn with many 
ungathered traditions. The county of Greenbrier is now 
within the boundary of West Virginia. In the year 1778 
it was separated from Botetourt county. The reputed 
origin of the name is a little curious. The county is 
named from the river, and it is said to have been named 
by old Colonel John Lewis, father to the late general, 
and one of the grantees under the order of council, who, 
in company with his son Andrew, exploring the country 
in 1 75 1, entangled himself in a bunch of greenbriers on the 
river, and declared that he would ever after call the stream 
Greenbrier river. 

The locality of the White Sulphur Springs was known to 
the Indians as one of the most important licks of the deer 
and elk. As early as 1772 a woman was brought here on 
a litter forty miles, whose disease had baffled all medical 
skill. A tree was felled, and a trough dug and filled with 
the mineral water, which was heated by putting hot stones 



224 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

into it. In this the patient was bathed, while, at the same 
time, she drank freely of the fountain. In a few weeks 
she went from her bark cabin perfectly restored. 
The fame of this cure attracted many sick persons to the 
springs, and they soon commenced throwing up rude log 
cabins. But the dreariness of the mountains, the badness 
of the roads, and the poverty of the accommodations, re- 
pelled all but the most anxious from these health-giving 
waters till 1818, when they fell into the hands of a Mr. 
Caldwell. From that time the place has continued rap- 
idly to improve. 

At the time of this writing the Springs' property is 
leased, but it is owned by a joint-stock company of great 
resources and enterprise. This company has already 
erected the largest building in the Southern country, its 
dimensions being four hundred feet long, by a correspond- 
ing width, and covering an acre of ground. This im- 
mense structure is of brick, and is appropriated for re- 
ceiving-rooms, dining-room, ball-room, parlors, lodging- 
rooms, etc. There are also numerous cottages for families. 
^JA^th these improvements, together with a new and capa- 
X cious bathing establishment, and the removal of many of 
the old buildings to new localities, by which the lawns 
are enlarged and adorned, the property in capacity and in 
the elegance of its arrangements will compare with some 
of the most pretentious of Northern watering-places. The 
interior appointments of the hotel are imposing and ele- 
gant. The dining-room is upward of three hundred feet 
long, with a correspondent width, and conveniently seats 
at one time more than a thousand persons. 

The fountain issues from the foot of a gentle slope, ter- 
minating in the low intervale upon a small and beautiful 
stream (Howard's creek) which is tributary to the Green- 



GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, 235 

brier river. It flows with unusual boldness from rock- 
lined apertures, and is enclosed by marble casings five 
feet square and about three feet deep. The ground ascends 
from the spring eastward, rising to a considerable emi- 
nence on the left, and spreading east and south into wide 
lawns. These have been improved by the construction 
of broad serpentine walks, among which the most popular 
is *'the Stroll," and the most romantic, *^'the Lover's 
Walk;" the latter with many a winding, and measured 
by such stages as sweet "Hesitation" and downright 
*' Acceptance," while a dark and angular recess, where 
unhappy hearts are slain, takes the name of "Rejec- 
tion." 

The White Sulphur water was analyzed in 1842, 
by Professor Hayes, of Boston, with the following re- 
sults : 

50,000 grains (about seven pints) of this water con- 
tain, in solution, 2i'^z?) water-grain measures of gaseous 
matter, or about 1.14 of its volume, consisting of — 

Nitrogen gas i-Oi3 

Oxygen gas ^ 108 

Carbonic acid 2.444 

Hydfo-sulphuric acid 068 

One gallon, or 237 cubic inches of the water, con- 
tains 16 739-1000 cubic inches of gas, having the pro- 
portion of — ■ 

Nitrogen gas , 4.680 

Oxygen gas 498 ■ 

Carbonic acid 11.290 

Hydro-sulphuric acid 271 

16.739 
P 



226 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

50,000 grains of this water contain 115 735-1000 
grains of saline matter, consisting of — 

Sulphate of lime ...:. 67.168 

Sulphate of magnesia 30.364 

Chloride of magnesium 859 

Carbonate of lime 6.060 

Organic matter (dried at 212° F.) 3-740 

Carbonic acid , 4-584 

Silicates (silica 1.34, potash .18, soda .66, magnesia 

and a trace of oxyd iron) 2.960 

115-735 

The temperature of the water is 62° Fahrenheit, and 
remains uniformly the same during winter and summer. 
The principal spring yields about thirty gallons per 
minute ; and it is notable that this quantity is not per- 
ceptibly increased or diminished during the longest spells 
of wet or dry weather. 

With reference to the use of the White Sulphur waters 
in the sense of a discriminating or pathological practice, 
there may be conveniently prefaced here some reflections 
on the use of mineral waters generally ; which, so far 
from being a technical treatise, will, following the popu- 
lar design of our work, be found a familiar and intelligi- 
ble experience among those accustomed to resort to these 
natural provisions- of health. 

The most common difficulty in the use of mineral 
waters is an impatience for sensible and obvious effects — 
the eagerness of the invalid to witness the progress of his 
cure. This disposition, so natural that it can scarcely be 
severely censured, is yet an unfortunate one, and some- 
times very injurious. The patient is impracticable ; he 
cannot be reconciled to the use of small and inoperative 
quantities of the water ; or he debauches himself with 



GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 227 

excessive draughts of it. These are common errors, and 
yet they are founded on an ignorance which a little re- 
flection and a little observation of analogies within the 
general experience, even without the aid of a medical 
adviser, might readily remove. 

The best effects of mineral waters generally are not 
those of sudden disturbances. The intelligent physician 
will admonish the invalid, eager for immediate and visi- 
ble results, that it is far better that the water should lie 
quietly upon his system, not manifesting much excite- 
ment upon any of the organs, but rather silently putting 
the inner man to rights, and giving it its natural and 
healthy motion. The technical word that describes this 
efl"ect is ^'■alterative.''' As the celebrated Patissier — one 
of the few learned physicians who is content to use a 
popular language rather than the technology of his pro- 
fession — has explained : ' ' In the general, mineral waters 
revive the languishing circulation, give a new direction 
to the vital energies, re-establish the perspiratory action 
of the skin, bring back to their physiological type the 
vitiated or suppressed secretions, provoke salutary evacu- 
ations either by urine or stool, or by transpiration ; they 
bring about, in the animal economy, an intimate trans- 
mutation — a pi'ofoimd change.' ' The common springs' 
parlance of '^saturated with the water," as a desirable 
condition, is an unconscious popular endorsement of the 
pathology of the learned professor. And again, the 
common experience of impatient invalids of being ''no 
better while at the springs, but beginning to mend soon 
after leaving," is another familiar tribute to this true 
theory of the action of mineral waters. 

The medical world appears to have pretty well con- 
cluded on the modern discovery, properly dated since 



228 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

the days of miraculous cures, that the real curative ac- 
tion of mineral waters is the alterative action. This is 
held to be especially true of sulphur waters ; and yet, 
more especially, Doctor Moorman says of the Greenbrier 
White Sulphur Springs: "Indeed no article of the ma- 
teria medica has more decided alterative effects." He 
claims that the water has these effects by being absorbed, 
or, in other words, entering into the great circuit of the 
circulation, and thus exercising the specific or peculiar 
action of its constituents in promoting the various secre- 
tory and excretory processes, and thereby restoring the 
diseased system to a physiological condition. 

Between the action of 7Jie7'cury and of the more power- 
ful of the sulphur waters on the organic system the most 
striking similarity exists. Dr. Armstrong long since re- 
marked the resemblance between mercury and the sulphur 
waters of Europe, and confidently expressed the opinion 
that the latter are equally powerful as the former in their 
action upon the secretory organs ; and with this very 
important difference, that while the long-continued use 
of mercury, in chronic disease, generally breaks up the 
strength, that of the sulphur waters generally renovates 
the whole system. 

The principal ground of discrimination in the use of 
the White Sulphur waters proceeds from the general con- 
siderations already advanced ; it is perfectly intelligible, 
and the invalid may constantly refer to it, in- the absence 
of those details of instruction for which there is no place 
here, and for which he should have recourse to his medi- 
cal adviser. The leading guide is simply to determine 
the preference for sensible medicinal effects or for the 
alterative action ; and on this depends the practical ques- 
tion which every visitor is called upon to decide — whether 



GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 229 

to use the water fresh as it flows from the spring, or de- 
prived of its gas, or with its quantities modified. 

This question, it seems, has always had its partisans at 
the White Sulphur, and it is the first one that is proposed 
to the visitor. Doctor Moorman, however, thus intelli- 
gently decides between the two opinions, giving to each 
of the methods of using the water — -fresh or stale — its 
proper allotment : 

" For some patients, the White Sulphur as it flows from 
the spring is too stimulating, and hence, before the ;z^;?- 
sti?nulati?tg vciQlh-od. of using it was introduced, many such 
patients left the spring either without giving the water a 
trial, or actually rendered worse by its stimulating 
influence. 

''In cases of nervous persons, and especially in those 
whose brain is prone to undue excitement, we have often 
found it necessary, either hy freezing or heatijigtht water, 
to throw off its gas completely before it could be tole- 
rated by the system ; and some of the happiest results we 
have ever witnessed from the use of the water have been 
achieved by it after being \\i\MS> prepared. 

" Our object in prescribing White Sulphur has been to 
pursue a discriminating ox pathological practice. We re- 
gard it as an active and potent medicine, and believe that, 
like all such medicines, it should be used with a wise 
reference to the nature of the case and the state of the 
system. We must not be understood as advancing the 
opinio7i that this water is always to be prefei'red after the 
escape of its gas. We entertain no such opinion; on the 
contrary, for a large class of visitors we think it prefer- 
able that they should avail themselves of the use of the 
water either at, or recently removed from, the fountain, 
and as it naturally abounds in its gases. ' ' 
20 



233 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

And the conclusion is plain and emphatic — that the 
water, to be used safely and most beneficially in very many 
cases, must be taken with strict reference to its fresh or 
stale quality ; or, in other words, to its stimulating ox non- 
stimulating qualities. 

Without attempting a set of rules for the invalid, pre- 
ceding and other reflections on the use of the White 
Sulphur may be reduced, for distinctness and for readi- 
ness of reference, to such obvious propositions as the 
following. All the ''points" are deducible from the 
main theory : 

1. The water is always more stimulant, and generally 
less purgative, when taken fresh at the spring and abound- 
ing in its gas. 

2. The alterative or changing effects of the water are 
by far its most valuable effects, and are those which, 
more than all others, give to it its distinctive and effective 
character. 

. 3. If the water produces active purgative or diuretic 
effects, its alterative action is correspondingly delayed. 

4. An active and long-continued diuretic effect is gene- 
rally useless and frequently hurtful, and hence when in 
much excess should be arrested. This may be effected 
with the utmost certainty by a modification in the quantity 
or periods of using the water, and by gentle medical 
means that divert from the kidneys and determine to the 
liver and skin. 

Of diseases in which the White Sulphur may be usefully 
prescribed, we may adopt again a summary paragraph from 
Dr. Moorman's work : 

"Various diseases of the stomach, liver, spleen, kid- 
neys and bladder, as well as some derangements of the 
brain and nervous system generally, are treated success- 



GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 231 

fully by this agent. To the various affections of the skin, 
unattended with active inflammation, to chronic affections 
of the bowels, and to gout and rheumatism, it is well 
adapted. In haemorrhoids, in some of the chronic affec- 
tions of the womb, in chlorosis and other kindred female 
disorders, in mercurial sequelce, and especially in the 
secondary forms of lues and ill-conditioned ulcers in de- 
praved constitutions, it constitutes the most valuable 
remedy to which the invalid can resort." 

An aid to the internal use of the water is supplied in 
the excellent bathing establishment which the present les- 
sees of the White Sulphur have added to their other exten- 
sive improvements of the grounds. The water used for 
bathing flows from the sulphur spring of which the visitors 
drink. Looking at the analysis of the water, and finding it 
to contain about one hundred and fifty grains of active 
medicinal salts to the gallon, we cannot fail to see that, 
so far as the medication of waters can favorably affect the 
bath for which they are used, the White Sulphur baths 
must be remarkable. It is said that no other waters in 
America that are used for bathing, except the Washita 
Springs in Arkansas, are so highly impregnated with 
mineral salts. 

These baths, in connection with the drinking of the 
sulphur waters, although not required in every case, are 
of great importance in a large number of cases, aiding 
to produce the best effects of the waters. 

Impressed with the great value — in fact the absolute 
necessity to some invalids — of the baths in connection 
with the drinking of the water, the proprietors of the 
springs have recently enlarged and remodeled their bath- 
ing establishment, so as to make it satisfactory in every 
respect. The bathing-house is large, affording ample 



232 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

accommodations. The rooms are spacious, airy and 
comfortable, and in addition to the usual tub-baths there 
are erected douche baths, for the application of streams 
of hot or warm water to parts of the body; and there are 
also set apart rooms for the administration of sweating 
baths.* 

The company at the White Sulphur has always been 
distinguished for its numbers and culture, although we 
cannot go as far as the description of Doctor Moorman — 
in which there is an unpleasant evidence of the afflatus 
of the advertisement — and designate the place as "at 
once the Athens and the Paris of America. ' ' Heretofore, 
these springs have had a larger patronage than any other 
watering-place south of the Potomac. Their reputation 
for gayeties and fashionable display stands in stead, or 
in preference, of even more solid attractions to draw a 

* The new and improved method of heating the water for bathing 
deserves to be noted. This is effected by steam in the vessel in 
which it is used, and is a great improvement over the old method of 
heating mineral waters for bathing. Under the old plan of heating in 
a boiler and thence conveying the water to the bathing-tub, much of 
its valuable saline matter was precipitated and lost. By this improved 
method of applying steam to the water in the tub, the heat is never 
so great in raising the water to the bathing point as to cause any im- 
portant precipitation of its salts ; hence they are left in their natural 
suspension in the water to exert their specific effect upon the bather. 
Not only so, but by this improved method hot steam may be let into 
the tub from time to time as the water cools, so as to keep it essentially 
of the same temperature during the entire period of bathing — a con- 
sideration often of no small importance. This method of heating 
mineral waters in the tub in which they are used, in connection with 
the douche and sweating baths, brings hot and warm bathing at this 
place in favorable competition with bathing at naturally hot and 
warm fountains, and promises to be productive of the same good 
effects that are experienced from bathing in such fountains. 



GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 233 

crowd, of which the invalid element is by no means the 
larger. 

While the White Sulphur has been such a social ren- 
dezvous, there has recently been some displeasure at the 
development of a vulgarity and a nuisance there which 
was supposed to belong only to certain promiscuous 
watering-places in the North, which we unwillingly notice 
here, and to which we would not refer except to point 
out a source of detraction which we would be glad to see 
removed. We refer to the representation of '^the press" 
tolerated here in the persons of low reporters sloughed 
off from the city journals during the summer season, and 
of editors of country Phoenixes and Trumpeteers, the en- 
couragement of weak editions of "Jenkins," and a feeble 
apishness after the watering-place literature of the North. 
We had hoped that "Jenkins" was altogether a Northern 
institution, or at least that his tribe that threatens our 
Virginia watering-places would not be quite so underling 
and paltry as those who figured in the fiasco of the 
"Press Ball" of 1869. The proprieties of our Southern 
manners do not permit such liberties of the press as have 
been practiced recently at some of our springs, while 
common sense rejects their frivolities. To criticise the 
dresses of ladies ; to print estimates, in dollars and cents, 
of jewelry worn at different balls ; to publish the names 
of ladies in full, without even the small decency of aster- 
isks, and with no more misgivings than those of ballet- 
dancers on a play-bill ; to tell how Brigadier General 
Bombastes Furioso, released from the cares of conduct- 
ing his great gift establishment of "real diamonds and 
plated ware," and of giving certificates of prizes to negro 
barbers, made happy at fifty cents a head, spends his 
valuable time, and what anecdotes he tells of his fuga- 
20 * ■ ' 



234 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST, 

cioiis military career ; to describe how the wife of the 
man who gave buttermilk to John M. Daniel, of the 
Richmond Examiner, as a peace-offering, conducts her- 
self as the clothes-horse or other unfeminine thing to 
display a silk dress that cost several thousands of dollars, 
— are certainly not the most valuable or interesting things 
that could be written, or even the most tolerable things 
that should be written of a society of Southern ladies and 
gentlemen. 

But ''Jenkins" defends his privileges. He puts in the 
plea that the ladies, however they disclaim it, are de- 
lighted to have their names and dresses published broad- 
side in the newspapers, and that their protest of "iV^" 
is merely the feminine of ^^Yesy One of the ingenious 
tribe thus reports a conversation in the ball-room to illus- 
trate and sustain his position : 

Reporter. '' Miss , have the kindness to describe 

your costume to me." 

Miss (shocked and blushing at the idea of being 

put into the paper). '' Oh, indeed, don't put my name 
in. It's a horrid way. Now, really, you mustn't." 

Reporter. "Oh, certainly, Miss , of course not, 

as you wish otherwise. ' ' 

Miss (startled and turning pale at the idea of not 

being put in the paper). " Well — but — at any rate — if you 
should, say that I wore," etc. And there followed a cat- 
alogue a half page long. 

On which we have only this commentary to make : 
that we fear that the dear creature "interviewed" by 
Jenkins was not the very best exponent of the culture 
and gentleness and unaffected modesty of the daughters 
of the South. 

There is something undoubtedly of "shoddy" at the 



GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 235 

White Sulphur (as at all famous places), and something, 
we must add, of undue adaptation of the system of ac- 
commodation and entertainment there to the mere bac- 
chanalism of society. A correspondent who cannot be 
suspected of Jenkinsism — it is the editor of the New 
Orleans Times who writes — thus indicates the hotel life 
here, with a glance at the accommodations of the place : 
^'I missed, in the ball-room, many of the old charac- 
teristics of our Southern women. There is quite too 
much overdressing and emblazoning, and the air of con- 
scious beauty, splendor and attractiveness. The prettiest 
feature of a pretty woman is the unconsciousness of her 
charms. This is a great natural endowment or a high 
achievement of art. I do not perceive much of it here. 
I can read too distinctly in the face of the leading belles 
the idea which is predominant in their minds — that they 
are exciting great admiration and producing certain 
effects. The overdressing is awful, and may well alarm 
the political and social economists of the South for the 
future of our section. What a terror to aspiring bache- 
lors to contemplate the potent agencies of bankruptcy 
which flutter and glitter around them ! But I am ventur- 
ing upon a dangerous sea of moral disquisition, and re- 
turn to the more agreeable one of expressing my great 
admiration for certain of the beauties here who are re- 
garded as rightful aspirants for the apple of Paris. Ken- 
tucky, Illinois and Virginia may be considered as the 
three goddesses who enter the list. Each of these States 
is represented by a magnificent specimen of female beauty 
and elegance, and a most perplexing task it would be to 

determine between their respective claims 

Whilst I do not underrate the value and pleasure of the 
drawing-room and ball-room pleasures and amusements, 



236 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST, 

it is an obvious criticism of this establishment that this 
line of business is overdone, and that there is a woeful 
lack of other pleasures and conveniences for quiet enjoy- 
ment for which people flock to such resorts. There is 
no drawing or reading-room for gentlemen, not even a 
sitting-room, which is not shared with the servants and 
hangers-on. This is an enormous hotel, and friend Hil- 
dreth, who is here, says it has the largest dining-room in 
the world, and a ball-room of corresponding dimensions. 
And yet no sitting or reading-room for the many quiet 
old gentlemen who would like to hold pleasant converse 
without the necessity of dressing in full ball costume, or 
mixing with the rather miscellaneous crowd in the bar- 
room or the office. In fine, this hotel is, both in design 
and management, far from what it ought to be as the 
principal spa of the South." 

Yet it is to be admitted that the present lessees, Messrs. 
Peyton & Co., whose fame is eminent in the hotel direc- 
tory of the country, have already done wonders in im- 
proving a resort so popular; and we doubt not, consider- 
ing their present rate of progression, they will before 
long make the entertainment of the White Sulphur com- 
plete at all points. The modern hotel is a small mon- 
arch, but in Virginia the lines of succession are too 
short and uncertain to accomplish the highest degrees of 
improvement and prestige. 

Indeed, however defective may be the hotel establish- 
ment of the White Sulphur, it is so far superior to the 
common run of what we get at the Virginia springs that 
criticism in this connection is unjust; and we have made 
such only in comparison with the accommodations to be 
found at Northern watering-places. The Virginian, with 
all his virtues and accomplishments, does not, generally 



GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 237 

speaking, understand keeping a hotel ; and when we de- 
scend from the cities to his rural entertainments, his 
deficiencies in this respect are yet more painfully per- 
ceived. The comparative aversion to the watering-places 
of this State is, we are persuaded, greatly due to distrust 
of the accommodations. We too often meet at these 
country hotels, in the character of host, a man above his 
business, who has a provoking air of indifference as to 
whether his guests are pleased or not ; who treats them 
rather as pensioners on his civility, bound to be grateful 
for what they get ; and whose manners, on the whole, 
are those of a man dispensing a doubtful, languid hospi- 
tality to half-welcome visitors, rather than of one getting 
a quid pro quo — the individual who is really served in the 
transaction — he who is indebted to his guests, rather than 
they to him. 

The White Sulphur is cosmopolitan in comparison 
with some other summer hostelries in Virginia. An ex- 
perience in the worst of these is a curiosity in its way, 
although we doubt whether any one would be willing to 
renew the discomforts of the investigation for the infor- 
mation gained. The fiction of the Virginia country hotel 
is that you zxq guests, and that the ''General," "Col- 
onel" or "Judge," or however may be called the gen- 
tleman who takes your money, is at the head of a private 
dinner-party. You must observe his ceremony and be 
thankful. Imagine ceremony — and though the ceremony 
of provincialism and ignorance, yet of the stiffest sort — ■ 
in a country hotel ! Here is an example for the doubting 
reader : On one occasion in his travels, the writer took 
breakfast in a company of some thirty or forty per- 
sons. The breakfast was served on a long pine table 
draped with a dirty cl^oth, persons taking their seats along 



238 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

the board at whatever intervals they pleased. The writer 
had finished his meal on strong bacon and doubtful eggs, 
and was about retiring, when the proprietor and a col- 
ored waiter rushed to him, on either side, whispering 
mysteriously and with empressement. " Don't get up yet," 
said Boniface. "You mussen't move," responded Cuffy. 
Surprised, alarmed at the expostulation delivered in such 
anxious manner — imagining, even, some tragedy taking 
place in the next room from which he was to be debarred 
access — the writer asked, in broken tones, ''What's the 
matter?" "Sir," whispered the landlord, in tones of 
wounded surprise, '■'■the ladies I the ladies I don't you see 
they ain't done eating yet?" It was only when the last 
female had licked her chops that Boniface gave a signal, 
by beating a little iron rod on a triangle, and his com- 
pany of guests were then dismissed to their respective 
avocations. 

Generally speaking, we believe that wherever assur- 
ances can be made of good hotel accommodations, the 
Virginia springs will obtain visitors in proportion to their 
other attractions. Let the liberality of the springs' pro- 
prietor begin at home, with himself, in founding hotel 
establishments which are neither wayside inns, cocked up 
in boards, nor yet too scant "mammoth" structures, 
large without comfort and garish without elegance, and 
he will have less to complain of the liberality of the pub- 
lic, and of the slight put upon the summer resorts of Vir- 
ginia for those where Nature has done less, but man more. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE SPRINGS OF MONROE AND BATH COUNTIES. 



The Springs Region described from the White Sulphur as a Centre — Surrounding 
Scenery — View from Dry Creek — The Old" Sweet Springs — A Ride through 
the Rain — An Aristocratic Resort — Medical Description of the Old Sweet Water 
—The Salt Sulphur Springs — Observations of Dr. Mutter— The Red 
Sulphur Springs — Reported cures of Consumption — The Blue Sulphur 
Springs — Analysis of the Water — Routes from the Greenbrier White Sulphur 
Springs into Bath County — The Cascade of the Falling Springs — Views 
through a new Atmosphere — The Blowing Cave — Thomas Jefferson's De- 
scription Incorrect — The Warm Springs Mountain — Looking from " Flag 
Rock" — The Hot Springs — Virtues of the Thermal Baths — The Warm 
Springs — An Indian Tradition — The Healing Springs — Beauties of Scenery 
— Pleasures of Trout-fishing^— Dr. Burke on these Springs — The Bath Alum 
Springs — Effects of the Water — Painful Aspects of Invalidism at the Springs, 

RADIUS of about forty miles, sweeping from 
the Greenbrier White Sulphur as a centre, will 
describe a circle containing the most important 
part of the Springs Region of Virginia. Within this 
circle we have to the north the famous cluster of springs 
in Bath county — the Hot, the Warm, the Healing and 
the Alum Springs ; the distance to the former measured 
by the common route of travel being thirty-five miles ; to 
the east, the Sweet Springs, seventeen miles from the 
common centre; to the south, the Salt Sulphur Springs, 
twenty-four miles, and the Red Sulphur, forty-one miles ; 
and to the west, the Blue Sulphur Springs, twenty-two 
miles. 

In leaving this centre of the Springs Region in any 

239 




240 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

direction we can scarcely escape refreshing views of 
mountain scenery. They lie on every hand. A general 
description might suit them all, and we were not disposed 
to select any of them for our sketch-book, with but one 
exception. This — the sketch which faces this chapter — 
is taken from the vast environments of the scenery of the 
Greenbrier through which our road lies. It is on Dry 
creek, a few miles from the White Sulphur, and may be 
taken as an eminent representative of the extent and com- 
bination of mountain views in this part of Virginia. The 
mountains are not so high as, and they are more sloping 
than,' those where the Alleghany ridge is more severely 
defined ; for we are on the decline of this great feature of 
the State and its rude pictures of grandeur. On this de- 
cline the views are softer, and comprehend a . variety 
peculiar to the situation. There is more breadth of land- 
scape ; there is more for the eye to distinguish and to 
combine ; and the distant mountains, instead of being 
thrust up as boundaries to our vision, "swell from the 
vale," and are lost in pleasing indistinctness near the rim 
of the horizon. In fact, each of the characteristic pictures 
of mountain scenery in Virginia has its merits : that which 
rises in clear and abrupt outlines against the sky, and ends 
boldly on distinct effects, and that, such as we have at- 
tempted to show on the neighboring page, which in 
infinite variety of landscape reaches to the limits of vis- 
ion, and with its mingling of effects yet prefers the pic- 
turesque to the sublime, 

THE OLD SWEET SPRINGS. 

But we must turn aside from sight-seeing of this sort 
to explore in another interest the neighboring country. 







N^-r 



VIEW ON DRY CREEK. 



Page 240. 



SPRINGS OF MONROE AND BATH. 241 

The common routine of the visitors of the Greenbrier 
White Sulphur Springs is to supplement a season there 
with one at the Old Sweet. There are said to be good 
medicinal reasons for the transfer j and the invalid after 
undergoing the alterative effects of sulphur water is fre- 
quently advised by his physician to complete his treatment 
by using the more tonic and nervine waters that are 
placed within his reach, they being adapted to strengthen 
the animal fibre and to give vigor and security to his 
convalescence. On the other hand, the change of scene 
and of company are obvious inducements to those who 
seek pleasure rather than health at the watering-places ; 
and thus it is usual to find all the springs of Virginia which 
lie conveniently close to each other profiting from an in- 
terchange of visitors, and instead of indulging in rivalry, 
manifesting the best relations of good and kindly neigh- 
borhood. 

The road to the Old Sweet is an interesting one. There 
is a station called " Crows," midway between it and the 
Greenbrier White Sulphur, and where it is not uncommon 
for parties from the two watering-places to appoint a 
rendezvous for pic-nics and other amusements, returning 
in the evening to their respective abodes. A few miles 
farther on is the Red Sweet Springs, a pretty object by 
the roadside, but rather neglected since the superior 
attractions, or at least the larger accommodations, of the 
Old Sweet await the traveler at the farther distance of 
only one mile. 

The term ' ' old ' ' is not inviting. As one of the travel^ 
ers, jolted on the top of the lumbering stage-coach and 
grumbling under a dilapidated umbrella, remarked by the 
way, " The word brought visions of a rickety country- 
tavern-looking place, badly-patched and worse-kept in- 
21 Q 



242 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

valid resort, where an old fellow with a patch over his 
eye nodded ' good-morning ' to a rheumatic spinster, 
and a scrofulous infant disported with a mangy kitten." 
It afforded, indeed, an agreeable surprise to find at our 
journey's end an array of buildings the most tasteful and 
neat that we had yet found in the mountains of Virginia — 
a crescent shape of brick cottages stretching away for two 
or three hundred yards, with pleasant avenues in the rear 
(Broadway and Elbow Row), and the pleasing effect sur- 
mounted by a hotel, which, though much inferior in 
dimensions to the caravansary at the White Sulphur, 
proved to be the best appointed and most comfortable in 
which we had rested since we had left the Virginia House 
at Staunton. The buildings are all of brick ; and the 
distinguished boast of the proprietor is that he has intro- 
duced what has heretofore been a novelty in the hotel ac- 
commodations of Virginia watering-places — the use o'igas, 
which is manufactured on the premises and is supplied in 
every room. In fact, the Old Sweet has certain claims 
to being an aristocratic spring; the company we saw 
there, not more than two hundred and fifty persons, about 
one-third of the capacity of the accommodations, were 
decidedly distinguished; and our impressions of the 
''style " of the place were early confirmed when on our 
arrival we were met in the dining-hall by an elegant col- 
ored gentleman in a full-dress suit, not omitting the 
white vest, who persuaded us that we would be doing him 
a favor to eat, or, as he might have expressed it, to 
condescend to the gratification of our appetites in his 
presence. 

The locality of these springs is a charming valley in 
the eastern extremity of Monroe county, the lofty Sweet 
Spring Mountain rising on the south, while not a mile 



Sm/JVGS OF MONROE AND BATH. 243 

away towers the Alleghany. The ground swells gradually 
on either side, and a fine sodding of grass affords agree- 
able walks beneath the shades of a primitive forest which 
the axe of the woodman has not yet despoiled. 

These were the earliest known of the mineral springs 
of Virginia, their reputation dating back to 1764. The 
water is chemically described as the best acidulous water 
found in the United States. A marked characteristic is 
the predominance of carbonic acid (fixed air), which 
gives the water a peculiar briskness. It is prescribed in 
the varieties of dyspepsia accompanied by gastrodynia or 
spasms, with pains occurring at irregular intervals, and 
heart-burn ; in secondary debility of the digestive canal 
from the exhausting heats of summer; and in chronic 
diarrhoea and dysentery without fever, or not sustained 
by hepatic inflammation. As a tonic the water is success- 
fully used in chronic diseases connected with debility, as 
in certain forms of dyspepsia, amenorrhoea, chorea and 
hysteria, etc., and in passive haemorrhage. In dropsy, 
from its union of tonic and diuretic qualities, it is emi- 
nently useful. In sterility, especially when connected 
with membranous menstruation, it is regarded almost as 
a specific. 

Another feature of the sanitary arrangement here, and 
a very important one, is the bath. A stiff building, of a 
military appearance, faces the main hotel, about two hun- 
dred yards distant, having a quadrangular shape, with 
two high towers. On the right, looking from the hotel, 
is the ladies' bath, and on the left the gentlemen's, each 
sixty by thirty feet, and four, five or six feet deep, as the 
bathers may choose. The bath, which is fed from the 
spring, is reported to have made some remarkable cures 
in sub -acute rheumatism and in neuralgic attacks ; and 



244 I^HE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

the external application of the water may be aided by the 
use of the spout directed to the diseased part. Immer- 
sions are also prescribed in calculous and nephritic com- 
plaints ; and in such cases it has been remarked by a 
distinguished physician that no mineral water promises 
greater benefits. To persons in average health the bath 
is stimulating, and, after the first slight shock, leaves the 
most agreeable impressions. 

THE SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

These springs are near Union, the county seat of 
Monroe, and are completely encircled by mountains — 
having Peters' Mountain to the south and east, the Alle- 
ghany to the north and Swope's Mountain to the west. 
There are three springs here — one known as ''The 
Iodine;" but the virtues of the Salt Sulphur proper are 
best known, and constitute the chief attraction to the 
invalid. Dr. Mutter, some time the resident physician at 
this resort, thus describes the water, giving a touch of 
poetry to the medical detail : 

"Its odor is very like that of a 'tolerable ^gg-i' and 
may, in certain states of the atmosphere, be perceived at 
some distance from the spring ; and in taste it is cousin- 
german to a strong solution of Epsom salts and mag- 
nesia. In a short time, however, strange to say, these 
disagreeable properties a.re either not observed, or be- 
come, on the other hand, attractive. Indeed there is 
hardly an instance of an individual retaining his original 
repugnance to them longer than three or four days, and 
some there are who become so excessively fond of the 
water as to give it the preference over any other liquids. 
Like most of the sulphurous, this water is perfectly trans- 



SmiNGS OF MONROE AND BATH. 245 

parent, and deposits a whitish sediment, composed of its 
various saline ingredients, mingled with sulphur. It is 
also for the most part placid ; occasionally, however, it is 
disturbed by a bubble of gas, which steals slowly to the 
surface, where it either explodes with a timid and dimp- 
ling smack, or is eagerly caught up by some careworn 
and almost world-weary invalid as a gem from the treas- 
ury of Hygeia. " 

The same pleasing medical authority recommends the 
use of the water in chronic affections of the brain ; in 
chronic diseases of the bowels, kidneys, spleen and blad- 
der ; and in neuralgia, as well as in the various affections 
termed nervous, such as hypochondria, hysteria, cata- 
lepsy, chorea, etc. Dr. Mutter also found good effects 
from the water in constipation of the bowels, haemor- 
rhoids, and in irritation of the mucous membrane of the 
kidneys, urethra, prostate gland and bladder. 

THE RED SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

The location of the Red Sulphur Springs we have 
already described as about forty miles from the White 
Sulphur. The situation is a romantic one, on Indian 
creek. The spring is on one side of a small, triangular 
plain, almost buried in mountains. The water is clear 
and cool — its temperature being 54° Fahrenheit — is very 
strongly charged with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, and 
contains portions of several neutral salts. 

Its effects are directly sedative and indirectly tonic, 
alterative, diuretic and diaphoretic. It has been found 
efficacious or beneficial in all forms of consumption, 
scrofula, jaundice and other bilious affections, chronic 
dysentery and diarrhoea, dyspepsia, diseases of the uterus, 
21* 



246 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

chronic rheumatism and gout, dropsy, gravel, neuralgia, 
tremor, syphilis, scurvy, erysipelas, tetter, ringworm and 
itch ; and it has long been celebrated as a vermifuge. 

With reference to the value of the water as a cure for 
consumption, the reports of medical men have detracted 
something from the exaggerated public opinion that, many 
years ago, pointed out this place as a security against this 
fell disease, so often supposed to be put at defiance, and 
yet (we must sadly confess it) still unconquered by any- 
thing in the science of man or in the bounty of nature. 
A physician of South Carolina, who passed the summers 
of 1822, 1823 and part of that of 1824 at the Red Sul- 
phur Spring, after giving a detailed report of three cases 
of pulmonary irritation connected with haemoptysis that 
were cured by the use of this water, makes the following 
observations : " I do not wish to be understood as stating 
that the water of the Red Sulphur will cure confirmed 
phthisis or tuberculous consumption ; but I believe we are 
very often mistaken in supposing a case of pulmonary 
irritation more desperate and hopeless than it really is ; 
and I believe that in most cases, if this spring is resorted 
to early, and the clothing and diet and exercise duly at- 
tended to, its waters will be found a most powerful 
adjunct and assistant in the management of these hitherto 
unmanageable cases." 

THE BLUE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

On the thoroughfare leading from the Greenbrier White 
Sulphur Springs to Guyandotte, twenty-two miles from the 
former place, and within the limits of Greenbrier county, 
are the Blue Sulphur Springs. 

The water is found to contain of solid ingredients — sul- 



SPJ^INGS OF MONROE AND BATH, 247 

pliate of lime; sulphate of magnesia; sulphate of soda; 
carbonate of lime ; carbonate of magnesia ; chloride of 
magnesium ; chloride of sodium ; chloride of calcium ; 
hydro-sulphate of sodium and magnesium ; oxide of iron, 
existing as proto-sulphate ; iodine, sulphur, organic mat- 
ters. Gaseous ingredients — sulphuretted hydrogen ; car- 
bonic acid; oxygen and nitrogen. 

It is classed among the sulphuretted waters ; and as a 
therapeutic agent it is reported to be highly valuable in 
chronic hepatitis, in jaundice and enlarged spleen, in 
chronic irritations of the kidneys and bladder, and in 
some diseases of the skin. There is also an establishment 
of baths here, medicated and vapor. The situation is one 
of great natural beauty, and the hotel accommodations 
are beyond the average of those of Virginia watering- 
places. The hotel is a spacious brick building, while 
architectural effects appear to have been studied in its 
composition, and in that of an imposing temple which 
covers the spring, and rises in the centre of an extensive 
and beautiful lawn. 

Returning to the Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs, 
and looking from it in another direction, the invalid finds 
new resources to explore, and the tourist new beauties of 
country and new attractions of summer life in the moun- 
tains to enjoy. There are four famous bathing springs in 
Bath county (which, by the way, is therefore appropri- 
ately named), lying close together, and which, in turn, 
may be reached by a day's journey from the White Sul- 
phur. There are two routes from there, each of which 
has its peculiar attractions. The traveler, going thence to 
the Hot Springs, etc., takes the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Railroad, moving eastward, and may leave it at Coving- 



248 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

ton (eighteen miles from the White Sulphur), proceeding 
thence to his destination eighteen miles by stage-coaches. 
The turnpike is a new one, recently built. This route 
offers some grand and imposing mountain scenery, fre- 
quent views of Jackson's river, and passes in full view of 
the beautiful cataract known as "The Falling Springs," 
and which is mentioned among the curiosities of the State 
in Jefferson's ''Notes on Virginia." 

THE CASCADE OF THE FALLING SPRINGS. 

The traveler on the route we have indicated makes a 
partial ascent of the Warm Springs Mountain, the road 
being cut and blasted on its side, about midway between 
its top and Jackson's river in the deep valley below. 
" The valley," writes an enthusiastic sight-seer, " is beau- 
tiful as that where Rasselas expected to find peace ; the 
mountains as romantic as those of Scotland." In the 
fields below there are grown the blue grass and the red 
clover ;* cattle browse lazily in the rich meadows, and 
great stacks of hay give promise of abundant food through 
the winter. The odor of thousands of walnut trees, at- 
testing the richness of the soil, is borne to us on the 
breeze, while the large orchards are significant of the 
coming apple-brandy, which is a staple production of this 
country. But the great charm is the new atmosphere we 
have penetrated, and we already feel the exhilaration of 
the change. There is said to be never in the Warm Springs 

* The red clover is said lo have been introduced into Virginia by- 
John Lewis, the progenitor of " the Lewis family," and an early 
founder of the white settlements in the Valley. It was currently 
reported by the prophets of the Indians, and believed by the sav- 
ages generally, that the blood of the red men slain by the Lewises 
and their followers had dyed the trefoil to its sanguine hue. 



SPR/2VGS OF MONROE AND BATH. 249 

Valley that alternation of a close, suffocating atmosphere 
with uncomfortable cold so common to the Atlantic bor- 
ders. The thermometer seldom rises above 80 deg. Fah- 
renheit, and its usual range may be stated as 60 deg. to 
75 deg. ; and there is rarely a foggy morning. 

At the lower end of this valley is the Falling Springs. 
The stream which makes the cascade rises in the Warm 
Springs Mountain, about fifteen miles south-west of the 
Hot Springs. About three-quarters of a mile from its 
source it falls over a rock two hundred feet into the val- 
ley below. The sheet of water is broken in its breadth 
in two or three places ; and the projections of moss-covered 
rocks give it the effect of a number of beautiful falls, until 
at last it leaps into the chasm of the narrow valley below, 
the banks of which are kept perpetually verdant by the 
refreshing spray that breaks into numerous fanciful forms, 
covering every sprig of fern and grass with countless dia- 
monds. Between the sheet of the lower fall and the rock 
at the bottom one may walk across dry ; or standing 
outside, he may enjoy the better effect of seeing the 
cataract crowned with rainbows. 

But before proceeding farther on our journey in this 
direction we must revert to the other route by which our 
destination — the Hot Springs, etc. — may be reached. 
The traveler will better decide on the choice of routes 
by a comparison pari passu. The second route, then, to 
the Hot Springs leaves the railroad at Millboro', twenty- 
nine miles east of Covington ; thence by the mail-coach 
to the Hot Springs, twenty miles, via the Batlv-Alum and 
the Warm Springs. This route, although the staging is 
not as good as from Covington, has the advantages of a 
scenery even superior to that we have described, and 
may be recommended to the traveler on that account. 



250 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

He will have the advantage of seeing the singular ' ' Blow- 
ing Cave," near the banks of the Cow Pasture river, and 
of enjoying the magnificent view from the top of the 
Warm Springs Mountain, which is crossed by the turn- 
pike at an elevation of nearly fifteen hundred feet above 
its base, and 2250 feet above the level of the sea. 

THE BLOWING CAVE. 

The cave referred to is thus described by Mr. Jefi'er- 
son, who was curious about the phenomenon it exhib- 
ited : '' It is in the side of a hill, is of about one hundred 
feet diameter, and emits constantly a current of air of 
such force as to keep the weeds prostrate to the distance 
of twenty yards before it. This current is strongest in 
dry, frosty weather, and in long spells of rain, weakest. 
Regular inspirations and expirations of air by caverns 
and fissures have been .probably enough accounted for 
by supposing them combined with intermitting fountains, 
as they must, of course, inhale air while their reservoirs 
are emptying themselves, and again emit while they are 
filling. But a constant issue of air, only varying in its 
force as the weather is dryer or damper, will require a 
new hypothesis." 

Since the date of the "Notes on Virginia" there have 
been some further explorations of this curiosity. K flow- 
ing and ebbing spring has been discovered on the same 
stream with the cave ; and Mr. Jefferson is mistaken in 
supposing that the issue of air was constant, as observa- 
tions have shown that at times there was no perceptible 
current from the cave. At other times the air comes out 
with great force. A traveler who, in the heat of sum- 
mer, was passing in his carriage, sent a little child to the 



SPJ^/NGS OF MONROE AND BATH. 251 

mouth of the cave, who let go before it a handkerchief, 
which was blown by the current of air over the horses' 
heads in the road, a distance of thirty or forty feet. The 
dimensions of the cavity, or rather its possible communi- 
cations with other subterranean chambers, have not been 
thoroughly explored ; and it is said that a small dog who 
entered found his way out through some unknown pas- 
sage. 

THE WARM SPRINGS MOUNTAIN. 

After refreshment in this current of air, the traveler is 
prepared to make the ascent of the Warm Springs Moun- 
tain, and is on his way to a view of some of the finest 
scenery in Virginia. The road leads up and across the 
mountain for five miles, and as we ascend we look down 
upon a succession of deep precipices and glens, environed 
by gloomy woods, their obscure bottoms being seen only 
fitfully through the foliage. On the summit of the moun- 
tain is a table, called " Flag Rock," which is frequently 
visited, and which affords an elevation of 2400 feet above 
the sea-level. There is a sublime view of parallel ridges 
of mountains extending for forty or fifty miles, one be- 
hind the other as far as the eye can reach, ''like a dark 
blue sea of giant billows, instantly stricken solid by Na- 
ture's magic wand." A hundred years ago the principal 
route of emigration was across this mountain, and it was 
then practicable only for pack-horses. The emigrants 
came in wagons to ''the camping-ground," a spot yet 
indicated at the eastern base of the mountain. Thence 
they transported to the West their baggage on pack- 
horses, while their wagons returned East laden with the 
spoils of the hunter. 



252 THE VIRGINIA f OUR 1ST. 



THE HOT SPRINGS. 

There are nine baths, each supplied with water from 
a separate spring, within the grounds of the Hot Springs 
hotel. The hottest issue from the ground with a temper- 
ature of 110° Fahrenheit. 

The effects of these waters prove them to be highly 
medicated, and they are known to contain sulphate and 
carbonate of lime, sulphate of soda and magnesia, a 
minute portion of muriate of iron, carbonic acid gas, 
nitrogen gas, and a trace of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. 
The waters, taken internally, are anti-acid, mildly aperi- 
ent, and freely diuretic and diaphoretic. But when used 
as a general bath their effects are great, and excel all 
expectation. They equalize an unbalanced circulation, 
and thereby restore the different important parts of the 
system when torpid — that natural and peculiar sensibility 
upon the existence of which their capacity to perform 
their several functions and the beneficial action of all 
remedies depend. They relax contracted tendons, ex- 
cite the action of absorbent vessels, promote glandular 
secretion, exert a marked and salutary influence over the 
biliary and urinary systems, and often relieve, in a' short 
time, excruciating pain caused by palpable and long- 
standing disease in some vital organ. 

The most marked effects of these waters, and those 
which have most established their popularity, are in 
rheumatism and in cases of torpid liver. In these cases 
their action is almost immediate and remarkable; and it 
is said to be a not uncommon spectacle for those who 
have with difficulty traveled to the Hot Springs' baths, 
crippled by rheumatism of long standing, to throw away 
their crutches after a few days' experience of the "hot 



SPJi/NGS OF MONROE AND BATH. 253 

spout." In fact, the baths are recommended for almost 
every case of chronic disease, such as diseases of the 
liver, of the stomach and bowels, of the kidneys, rheu- 
matism, gout, neuralgia, paralysis, old injuries, etc. 

A writer on thermal baths thinks that their hygienical 
effects are not fully appreciated in this country. In the 
Eastern World warm and hot baths are habitually taken 
by persons in every class and condition of life, from the 
northern limits of Russia to the Tropics. The fact that 
they are resorted to in tropical climates as a refreshing, 
cordial is a sufficient answer to the popular but erroneous 
idea that they are debilitating in their effects. The 
Romans, indeed, carried this luxury to such a pitch of 
vicious extravagance as to bring on it the title of one of 
the three great destroyers of human life. But this only 
applies to its abuse, and does not deny its salutary ope- 
ration when properly and judiciously used. Should 
the warm bath ever become general in its use in this 
country, whether in the form of the simple plunge bath 
or in that of the more complex apparatus of the Russian 
or Turkish baths, it will probably produce a more bene- 
ficial revolution as to the health and longevity of the 
inhabitants than any other sanitary regulation. 

It is very certain that the baths of the Hot Springs are 
strong stimulants, although the immediate reaction is a 
feeling of exhaustion and languor. After being in the 
bath ten minutes, the heat of the body has reached that 
of the water, and it then no longer feels hot. Then comes 
on a sensation of dreamy and languishing consciousness, 
halfway "betwixt sleep and wake." This continues 
until the bath is ended, and even through the subsequent 
stages of the "sweat-box." After this, most men brace 
themselves with a julep, and nearly all feel a strong incli- 
22 



254 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

nation to sleep. The value of these baths is in the fact 
that the whole epidermis is deterged, the pores opened, 
the skin powerfully exercised, and the mineral qualities of 
the water are absorbed into the blood. 



THE WARM SPRINGS. 

The Warm Springs, which have given name to the en- 
tire valley and to the mountain range which forms one 
of its boundaries, are five miles north of the Hot Springs, 
at the county seat of Bath county. At this place are several 
fine baths, about the temperature of 98° Fahrenheit. One 
of these is believed to be the largest warm bath in the 
world, and is supplied by warm water rising from the 
floor of the bath with such boldness that the immense 
bath, an octagon of forty feet in diameter and five feet in 
depth, fills in less than three-quarters of an hour. It holds 
forty-three thousand gallons, supplied by springs pouring 
forth one thousand gallons per minute. The flow of water 
from all the springs and baths is estimated at six thousand 
gallons a minute, and forms a stream suflicient to drive a 
large mill. 

The tradition respecting the discovery of the springs is, 
that a party of Indians hunting spent a night in the val- 
ley. One of their number, discovering the spring, bathed 
in it, and being much fatigued, he was induced by the 
delicious sensation and warmth imparted by it to remain 
in it some time. The next morning he was enabled to 
scale the mountain before his companions. As the 
country became settled, the fame of the waters gradually 
extended, and at first visitors from the low country 
dwelt here in rude huts. The property was patented by 
Governor Fauquier to the Lewis family in 1760. At 



SPRINGS OF MONROE AND BATH. 255 

present it is owned by a company, who have improved it 
by a fine hotel, with other attachments for the accommo- 
dation of visitors. 

Tlie Warm Springs water taken into the stomach is anti- 
acid, diuretic, diaphoretic, aperient and tonic. The bath 
equalizes the circulation and stimulates all the secretory 
organs. According to the opinion of physicians who have 
known the springs, and some of whom have practiced at 
the place for years, these waters possess great efficacy, and 
maybe used with confidence in the following diseases: 
chronic and sub-acute gout and rheumatism, paralysis, 
dyspepsia, liver diseases, neuralgia, secondary syphilis, 
nephritic and calculous disorders, and some diseases 
peculiar to females. 

The warm bath effects its purpose in an eminent degree, 
in most chronic cases, through its agency on the sentient 
extremities of the nerves distributed over the surface of 
the body. There is an extensive chain of sympathies es- 
tablished between the skin and the internal viscera, and 
through the medium of this channel agreeable sensations 
excited on the exterior are very often communicated to 
the central organs and structures themselves. 

THE HEALING SPRINGS. 

The Healing Springs are three miles distant from the 
Hot, and eight miles from the Warm Springs. The 
scenes around the springs invite the visitor to numerous 
walks and repay him with varied recreations. I'he val- 
ley in which they lie rises on every side amid the coolest 
and deepest shades, while the springs' buildings make a 
charming little villa shining pleasantly through the green 
trees. On one side, the Warm Springs Mountain pierces 



256 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

the sky with its long bleak boundary, and lower ledges of 
rock guard recesses which we shrink from exploring, but 
once secluded in which we find places of repose and en- 
joy a delightful and perfect solitude. At the end of a 
short walk is the cascade we have already described. In 
the gorge where it falls the sun in his most perpendicular 
glories penetrates with, shorn rays and distributes a soft 
and shaded light. It shines, however, with full splendor 
on the snowy wreaths which the falling water has twined 
on the great rocks. 

A pleasant recreation is here for the angler, who with 
pliant rod draws '' the gamest of game fish," the speckled 
trout, from his native element. The sport is as much that 
of hunting as of fishing, as the angler has to steal upon 
this timid fish, disporting in the clear, crystal streani, with 
as silent and stealthy tread as if still-hunting for deer. 
He creeps softly along the stream, concealing himself be- 
hind a rock, bush or bluff, careful to throw no shadow on 
the water ; from his cover he casts his line from a long 
pole; the hook is taken at once greedily, if the trout has 
not been alarmed ; and the glittering spoil, with its purple 
and gold yet reeking with water, is thrown panting on the 
green sward. It is a fine sport, but we must avoid noise, 
and practice a careful step, or we spoil the catch. The 
mountain trout is a gem to look at, and a sweet morsel 
for the palate when the last offices of the kitchen have 
been done for him. 

The waters of the Healing Springs are almost identical 
in their chemical analysis to the famous Schlagenbad and 
Ems in Germany. Dr. Burke, in a work on the mineral 
waters of Virginia, says: "As to the temperature of 
this water, it stands alone in the Springs Region, on the 
confines of the cold and warm. It is the most delightful 




TROUT POOL. 



Page 256. 



SFJi/NGS OF MONROE AND BATH. 257 

bath that can be imagined. I plunged into it by way of 
experiment, and a greater luxury in bathing I have never 
enjoyed. It is the only water I have met with of a tem- 
perature that may be denominated tepid, and therefore 
possesses advantages of no ordinary character. With 
the least possible shock to the system it gradually ab- 
stracts from it its superabundant caloric." 

The temperature of these springs is uniformly 84° 
Fahrenheit, and they are not subject to any variation of 
quantity or quality. The first employment of their water 
and its earliest manifestation of curative powers were in 
ill-conditioned ulcers and intractable affections of the 
skin. Dr. Hanger, a physician resident at the springs, 
and who has made immediate observations of the effects 
of the water, testifies: ^' There are few diseases depend- 
ent upon, or connected with, morbid secretions of the 
glandular structures but what are more or less modified 
by its use, while in others it acts as a direct curative 
agent. I have known it to cure some hopeless cases of 
scrofula, chronic thrush, obstinate cases of cutaneous 
disease, neuralgia, rheumatism, ulcers of the lower limbs 
of long standing, dyspepsia, etc." 

THE BATH ALUM SPRINGS. 

These springs are five miles east from the Warm 
Springs, and near the eastern base of the Warm Springs 
Mountain. 

The waters issue from a slatestone cliff of twelve or 
fifteen feet high, and are received into small reservoirs 
that have been excavated near each other in the rock. 
These different springs, or reservoirs, differ essentially 
from each other. One of them is a very strong chaly- 
22 * R 



258 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

beate, with but little alum ; another is a milder chaly- 
beate, with more alumina ; while the others are alum of 
different degrees of strength, but all containing an appre- 
ciable quantity of iron. 

The water is said to be of favorable effect in scrofulous, 
eruptive and dyspeptic affections, in old hepatic derange- 
ments, chronic diarrhoea, nervous debility, and in vari- 
ous uterine diseases, especially in the worst forms of 
msenorrhagia, and in fluor albus, both uterine and vagi- 
nal. The high chalybeate and aluminous impregnation 
manifests decided tonic and astringent powers. 

There is one remarkable circumstance of the watering- 
places of Bath county which strikes the visitor, and 
which candor compels us to append. They are attrac- 
tive rather as resorts for the invalid than for that other 
large class of summer visitors who seek to find in a 
''season" in the mountains rendezvous of social gay- 
ety or places of agreeable recreation. The extent of 
invalidism at these baths, and that, too, of the most un- 
sightly and deformed kind, is painful to behold j and 
the melancholy or repulsive quality which it imparts to 
scenes otherwise beautiful and inspiring is quite in con- 
trast with the gayety and abandon of other summer 
resorts in Virginia, where the votaries of pleasure out- 
number the victims of disease. Thermal waters are 
suited only to chronic conditions of the system. Thus 
we find, at the places we have been describing, invalidism 
of the most depraved and despairing kind — conventicles 
of cripples and of indescribable specimens of effete and 
used-up humanity. Balls and routs are rather out of 
place here, although sometimes attempted. But there 
are milder recreations, and the invalids sometimes have 



SPJ?/JVGS OF MONROE AND BATH. 259 

their ghastly jokes with each other, from the rheumatic, 
who moves rustily "'on his hinges," to the other cripple, 
whose interpretation of Virginia "hospitality" is being 
kept all the time in the hospital. 

But the objection we are making about invalids seems 
imjust, and we pause. These poor afflicted ones of hu- 
manity are to be cared for somewhere, and if they offend 
the senses of flushed and insolent health, a more gener- 
ous emotion should rebuke a feeling of superiority, which 
is but the accident of the animal, and, thankful that 
Providence has spared us like afflictions, we should re- 
joice that these unfortunates have found succor and 
solace in a kind gift of Nature, and should be really 
happy, in a profounder sense than that of pampering our- 
selves with selfish pleasures, to see them partaking of it. 
As a noble benefaction to humanity in the extremest 
distresses of disease the thermal waters of Bath county 
are probably without a rival in the world ; and this 
should be boast enough for them without care for compe- 
tition in any other article of attraction. 




CHAPTER XIV. 



FROM STAUNTON TO WEYER'S CAVE. 

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad — Looking to the Occident — A Wilderness of 
Riches — The Town of Staunton — A Glance at its History — Views of the 
Surrounding Country — The Virginian "Apology" for Roads — Weyer's Cave 
— A Subterranean Diorama — " Formations " and Curiosities — Peculiarities of 
Subterranean Nomenclature — ''Washington's Hall" — A Flight of Fancies — 
Dimensions of the Cave — Estimate of it as a Natural Wonder — Age of the 
Stalactites — The Sublimity of Nature as a Workman. 




HE town of Staunton is in the track of a conti- 
nental thoroughfare. We have already made a 
passing acquaintance with the Chesapeake and 
Ohio Railroad — the great harbinger of '' New Virginia," 
the herald of a vast prosperity that is to clothe the sides 
of her great mountains with the vivid scenes of prosper- 
ity, the colors of cultivation and the embroidery of the 
immigrant's home. The history of this road is not without 
vicissitudes, and it opens to one of the grandest visions 
of commercial power on which Virginia is now straining 
her expectations. 

This line of road, which reaches unfailing navigation at 
Richmond, Norfolk, West Point and Washington on the 
Chesapeake Bay, was carried in a general western direction 
across the Blue Ridge, and when the war broke out was 
halted at Covington (two hundred and five miles), the 
foot of the main chain dividing the waters of the James 
from those of the Ohio's tributaries. The enterprise, so 
260 



FROM STAUNTON TO WE TEN'S CAVE. 261 

long cut off and set back by the cloud of war, has at last 
enlisted the attention of eminent New York capitalists ; and 
it is expected that the road will be completed and equip- 
ped to the confluence of the Big Sandy and Ohio rivers in 
less than two years. At this latter point roads are already 
being built and projected to connect it with Cincinnati 
via Maysville, with Louisville via Lexington, with Chicago 
via Toledo and Xenia, and with Columbus via Ports- 
mouth. Through these channels it will reach the whole 
Mississippi Valley system and the Pacific railroads. It is 
said the distance between Chicago and Washington by 
this route is no greater, and can be made in better time, 
than by the Pennsylvania or Baltimore and Ohio routes, 
while from the central tier of cities the distance is fully 
fifty miles shorter to tide-water, and the gradients are 
thirty per cent, lighter. The great feature of the business 
of the line will be found, however, in its touching nearly 
twelve thousand miles of steamboat navigation at its ter- 
minus on the Ohio river. 

Beside the distant and opulent country which the con- 
nections of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad will reach, 
it is to be more immediately remembered that it will open 
to the tourist and immigrant a new breadth of Virginia 
(West Virginia), which now is not only undeveloped, but 
almost untrodden. Farming lands, inexhaustible minerals, 
lumber, etc., are to be developed and brought into mar- 
ket, in what is now an almost unbroken wilderness extend- 
ing for some twenty-five or thirty miles on each side of 
the road. This breadth of land, which the railroad will 
command, and which is now so neglected and uncondi- 
tionally surrendered to Nature, is adapted to the production 
of all the cereals, roots and grasses known to this latitude. 
The various iron ores, in the largest quantities and best 



262 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

qualities, will be accessible to the Chesapeake and Ohio 
road ; the marble quarries, grind and whetstones, flag- 
rock and the Burr millstone are all to be found in the 
country just described ; the coal-fields, consisting of the 
bituminous, splint, peacock, cannel, etc., abound for a 
hundred miles on each side of the road ; the tan-barks, 
hemlock, chestnut, oak, etc., the white and yew pines, 
white oak, locust, black walnut, cherry, curl maple, pop- 
lar, etc., are grown throughout West Virginia, and the 
rivers of the region are all adapted to the transportation 
of lumber. The interest of the lumber is already attract- 
ing attention, and affords a new speculation to Virginians. 
The calculation has been made to the writer that the 
Greenbrier river, for eighty miles north-east of where the 
railroad crosses it, traverses a lumber-field ; while it is 
said that it would take years to exhaust the country lying 
on the Gauley river and its tributaries of even the finest 
varieties of its timber. 

Resources so vast, with untold prizes in the more dis- 
tant Occident, are those which are now beckoning the 
best-managed and most sperate enterprise in Virginia. 
It has been calculated that the trans-Alleghany portion 
of Virginia alone would furnish freights enough to subsist 
this line of communication with the East. At present, 
however, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad is available 
only for the head of the Valley and the Greenbrier 
country. Its most important stations at this time are the 
White Sulphur Springs and Staunton. But these fortu- 
nately command the belt of the mountains most interesting 
to the tourist, and are already points of departure for a 
large bulk of the summer travel, which we may now hope 
to see each year increasing in Virginia, attracted to its 
springs, or scattered to explore the curiosities and beauties 



FROM STAUNTON TO WETER'S CAVE. 263 

of the scenery which lie at convenient distances from the 
railroad. 

THE TOWN OF STAUNTON. 

Staunton is among the ancient towns of Virginia ; it 
was laid off by William Beverly, Esq., and established by 
act of Assembly in 1761. It was once the retreat of the 
Virginia Legislature in the Revolutionary war, when 
Tarleton pursued its members to Charlottesville, and thence 
across the Blue Ridge. Before the recent dismemberment 
of the State of Virginia, and when there was a prospect 
of those western counties which now constitute West Vir- 
ginia being filled with population, the advantage of 
Staunton, in central position and in security from the 
danger of hostile invasions, had been indicated for the 
seat of the State government in preference to Richmond. 
It was always a rendezvous for political conventions in 
the State, where the interests of different sections might 
conveniently meet and confer. It is now adorned by 
what are the finest monuments of the public benevolence 
of Virginia — an asylum for the deaf, dumb, and blind, 
and one for the insane, the reputation of the latter for 
beneficence and skill being spread over the Union. One 
of the best hotels south of the Potomac — the Virginia 
House — affords entertainment for the traveler, and a 
convenient pause and rest for the tourist, where he may 
survey the surrounding country, and decide at leisure upon 
the various objects of interest that beckon him in differ- 
ent directions. One way we look to the springs ; in 
another direction to the scenery of the lower valley; in 
another to Weyer's Cave ; and a few miles east, at the foot 
of the Blue Ridge, is the historical scene of one of the 
last discomfitures of the Confederacy, where a broken 



264 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST, 

army took refuge in the woods, and dwindled at last to a 
fugitive general with two companions riding for their 
lives to the lines of Lee. 

The country lying around Staunton is remarkable for 
its picturesqueness. It is just on the limits where the 
great Valley is determined, and the mountain and the 
plain debate. The railroad gives a daily liveliness to the 
scene. We see the hastening train puffing graceful vol- 
umes of smoke over the green fields, or scourging with 
its black lash the screaming side of the mountain as it 
emerges writhing and swift on the distant slopes of the 
Blue Ridge. The skill and patience of a great enterprise 
have at last conquered this barrier, which, hung with blue 
mist, was to earlier generations the very welkin of Vir- 
ginia, the boundary of excursion and endeavors. The 
village of Waynesboro' at the western foot of the ridge is 
probably destined to be overgrown with machine-shops 
for the great railroad. It already has something of the 
clamor of a manufacturing town, and red eyes glow at 
night beneath the heavy and disturbed brow of the 
mountain. 

On leaving any of the railroads in Virginia we are 
struck by one remarkable want that afflicts all parts of the 
State. It is the distressing uniform want of practicable 
country roads. While any other public work is done 
under the direction of skillful engineers and by competent 
hands, it seems that the method of building roads in Vir- 
ginia is the old-time one which belonged to the exigen- 
cies of our early backwoods life, and yet survives in its 
grotesque absurdity. To build a road now in Virginia 
all the male persons living near it who can handle a hoe 
are drafted, and on a given day they turn out en masse ^ 
every delinquent being fined seventy-five cents for the 



FROM STAUNTON TO WETER'S CAVE. 265 

benefit of the county. The work is then done after the 
slightest fashion : a plough runs two shallow furrows to 
mark out the road, the loose stones are thrown out, the 
scraper is used a little, and the road is declared finished. 
There is no surveying or grading worth talking about. 
Such is the average country road in Virginia, and the dirt 
turnpike is only a degree better. 

It is curious that people, otherwise intelligent, do not 
understand the importance of good roads to their pros- 
perity. It is said that our Virginia farmers spend about 
four times as much power to cart the same amount of 
produce as a New England or a Pennsylvania farmer 
does — all owing to bad roads; the stoutest vehicles are 
torn to pieces over the stumps and through the quagmires ; 
neighborhoods are comparatively isolated from the want 
of roads, and all intercourse within spaces of a few miles 
is sometimes suspended for weeks from the effects of a 
freshet ; and yet the Virginians of our day are satisfied to 
plod on in this state of things, and to use, in very sight of 
the steam-car, red, mangled roads for their commerce and 
travel — unsightly ruts which in an energetic Northern 
community would be condemned as eyesores and nuis- 
ances ! A gentleman from New York, who recently visited 
Virginia to inspect her lands, remarked that there were 
three needs of the State : ''Roads," "Roads," "Roads." 
He spoke truly and with a well-deserved emphasis. If 
the State is anxious to invite immigrants and to develop 
her prosperity, let her pay some attention to her country 
roads as the necessary complement, the feeders, of the 
railroads which she is now so ambitiously building in 
every direction. As it is, the two classes of conveyance 
are in the most striking contrast : the next step from where 
speeds the luxurious car often bringing us to the red 
23 



266 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

stripe of mud or the trail through the woods, called, in 
amusing flattery or sometimes to our cruel deception, a 
"road." 

These remarks apply to much of our travel in Virginia. 
Some of the old mountain roads, however, which were 
main thoroughfares before the advent of the steam-car, 
had to be constructed after some idea of grading, and 
by the regular collection of tolls upon them they are 
patched up and maintain some sort of decency. But the 
best of them are wretched by comparison with the well- 
surveyed and sound roads in the Northern States, required 
to a great extent there by the denser population, and yet, 
however special excuses may disguise the comparison, in- 
dicating as much as anything else a superior thrift and 
enterprise. From Staunton to Weyer's Cave the traveler 
has an old turnpike, rather better than the average country 
roads, yet trying and exasperating enough when we con- 
sider what little labor might have given us a really admi- 
rable road through this beautiful and picturesque country, 
,the features of which are the wide hill, the tableland, and 
the thin forest in which the great clean trees stand as 
colonnades. 

weyer's cave. 

From Staunton the distance to Weyer's Cave is seven- 
teen miles ; the direction north-east, parallel to the Blue 
Ridge, and about two miles distant from it. The mouth 
of the Cave is on a hill, and has been enlarged since Ber- 
nard Weyer, some time in the year 1804, chased a deer 
into this retreat, the entrance of which was then masked 
with bushes, and scarcely admitted the body of the adven- 
turous hunter. Now the enlarged entrance is walled ; we 
go through a convenient doorway into what is called 



FROM STAUNTON TO WETER'S CAVE. 267 

"the ante-chamber," and yet at the distance of a few- 
yards we are compelled to pass through a passage con- 
tracted to the space of three or four feet square. 

We are in a subterranean world — a cosmos of scenes, 
cities, monuments, tribunals beneath the ground. The 
golden day is left behind us ; it struggles, dying in the 
narrow passage through which we entered ; our tapers 
stab the mysterious darkness, which retreats with the 
reluctance of an evil thing, and at the slightest effort of 
our voices a growl of distrust and anger is heard from 
chambers into which we are entering. Our imagination 
is wrought upon at once by images of the world over- 
head. Passing through chambers and galleries of infinite 
variety, we are struck by beholding in a dark recess on 
one side of the cave a very natural representation of the 
moon, as she might be imagined in her last quarter, 
rising in the morning. In another part, emerging from 
what is called "the Wilderness," a rough passageway 
not more than ten feet wide, but towering to the height 
of ninety or one hundred feet, we see a surface of rock on 
which colors and shades are so disposed as to represent a 
foaming cataract, recalling the weird, poetic image of the 
giant Water, 

** as seized at once 
By sudden frost, with all his hoary locks 
Stood still." 

But a few steps away we have passed a group of 
beautiful white stalagmites, which the fancy has desig- 
nated as "Bonaparte with his body-guard crossing the 
Alps." The journey (our own, not Bonaparte's) so far 
is toilsome, uneven, and \ve are often required to stop 
and to practice ungraceful postures. The visitor, resolved 
on a thorough exploration, must not expect to stroll 



268 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

through *' rooms and galleries" as in an ''Arabian 
Nights" entertainment. We are often on our knees, 
often defiled with mud, often wounding our hands on the 
sharp rock. The way is studded with all the minor curi- 
osities of "formations," and we are constantly plucking 
grotesque bunches and stems of rock, until our hands are 
full of them. But the spoils of visitors are not only in 
stalactites and stalagmites. In the deepest apartment, to 
which the visitor hesitates to penetrate, affected by its 
name, ''the Infernal Regions," there is a mass, not 
exactly of precious stones, but of the most brilliant white 
crystals ; the floor of this sunken and dismal room being 
composed mostly of layers of these crystals, in some in- 
stances three feet deep. A person who had made a choice 
collection of these stones was offered a hundred dollars 
for them, which he refused. 

A strange and vicious jumble of nomenclature describes 
the wonderful and intricate scenes through which we pass. 
In some instances the names have originated in such low 
imaginations that we cannot transcribe them ; and it is 
infamous that the grandest and most beautiful mysteries 
of nature should be degraded and insulted, as they often 
are, by unclean human wretches, viler than the worm 
that turns from the leaf of the rose to moil in the filth 
that manures it. But even in the admissible titles the 
most absurd anachronisms and follies are perpetrated, 
though the contrasts are sometimes not a little amusing. 
From "the Dragon's Room," through " the Devil's Gal- 
lery," we pass into " Solomon's Temple." Next we are 
pointed to "Solomon's Meat-house." "The Radish 
Room " is so named because of the form of stalactites 
resembling this vegetable. " Ajax's Shield " and " the 
Devil's Bake-oven " are adjacent curiosities. " Congress 



FROM STAUNTON TO WEYER'S CAVE. 269 

Hall" and "the Tan-yard" are in close proximity. 
Near "Jacob's Ladder" are " Jacob's Tea-table " and 
"Jacob's Ice-house." "The Infernal Regions" and 
"the Ball-room " are separated by a very thin partition, 
through which are transmitted the least sounds from one 
to the other. The " Rock of Gibraltar " stands close by 
" the Pyramids of Egypt. ' ' From " the Garden of Eden " 
we go into " the Fly-trap." The " Church " and " the 
Lawyer's Office " are in friendly neighborhood. The 
" Tower of Babel," an immense mass of solid stalagmite, 
thirty-five feet long, thirty broad and thirty high, 
arrests the eye, and just by it is " Bonaparte crossing the 
Alps !" 

The most magnificent apartment in the whole cave is 
undoubtedly "Washington's Hall." It is worthy of the 
grand associations of its name, which is singularly appro- 
priate from a calcareous formation that stands near the 
centre of the room, rising to the height of six or seven 
feet, and bearing a striking resemblance to a statue in 
classic drapery. A sheet of rock-work runs through the 
room, but the fine arch expands high over the head, un- 
touched. The dimensions of the apartment are, 257 feet 
in length ; breadth, from 10 to 20 feet ; height, -^T) f^^t. 
It is said that before the war there had been annual illu- 
minations on the 4th of July of "Washington's Hall;" 
but the lights by which we saw it, though less than on 
these occasions, we are inclined to think, were just about 
sufficient to produce the best effects. The perspective of 
the room is very fine ; the tapers which burn near us are 
encumbered by dark shadows, and a dim religious light 
falls upon what is about four times the length of an ordi- 
nary church. The roof is vaulted and amazing. The 
lights which stream below strike with uncertainty upon 
23* 



270 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

the carved and knotted surface which they barely reach. 
The shadows that have flitted upon the walls hesitate in 
groups, and rally in the distance like reassured ghosts. 
And amid these uncompleted resemblances the imagina- 
tion constructs worlds of its own : the distant tapers check- 
ing like stars the darkness — the maimed and uncertain 
shadows that walk and stumble by our side — the assassin 
that stands or shifts or cowers behind the white throne, 
in front of which the lights dance — the saffron knotted 
arm of the giant grown out of the shapeless rock — the 
drip that is ceaseless in our ears, the water-clock that 
measures the weird time, ever and ever, — all impress us 
that we are withdrawn from the living world, and put us 
under the spell of a strange and illimitable enchantment. 
In these abodes of darkness, never penetrated by light 
except what is artificial, but few creatures are known to in- 
habit. There is no standing water in all the cave. A limpid 
spring, covered over with a thin pellicle of stalagmite, 
flows near the *^ Fly-trap" and appears to be the source 
of a subterranean stream • and if there are finny inhabitants 
in these measureless caverns, they are beyond the reach 
of our observation. The floor of the cave is generally a 
stiff clay. We were told that bats were sometimes found 
to harbor here in winter, their habit being to form clus- 
ters pendent from the ceiling after the fashion of bees, 
and that when the taper, out of cruel curiosity or barbar- 
ous sport, was applied to them or near them, they would 
set up a strangely human cry, most pitiful, but would never 
let go the hold by which they clung to each other. The 
artificial door which opens into the '^ Ante- chamber " 
excludes wild beasts ; but no doubt they once had here 
•their refuges and lairs, and fierce eyes might have looked 
from the terrible darkness at the adventurous intruder. 



FROM STAUNTON TO WE TEE'S CAVE. 2'Jl 

The ''main path" by which the visitor traverses the 
apartments and galleries of the cave is sixteen hundred 
and fifty feet in length. By the more winding paths the 
length is quite double this. At all times the air of the 
cave is damp, and some precautions should be taken be- 
fore entering it, especially to preserve an equilibrium of 
temperatures. In all seasons the temperature of the cave 
is about 56°, and it is important that the visitor in sum- 
mer should become cool before he enters, else he is likely 
to be chilled by the sudden loss in the atmosphere of 
thirty or more degrees of heat. In winter, of course, we 
feel this subterranean air to be warm and comfortable. 
In the spring and autumn the atmosphere without and 
that within are more nearly equal in temperature ; and 
those visiting the cave at other seasons should be careful 
to defend themselves by change of clothing, or otherwise, 
against the very marked differences they must experience 
in degrees both of heat and moisture. 

On the whole, Weyer's Cave is one of the greatest sights 
in Virginia, and is eminent in its own class of wonders. 
The emotions it excites are of the most various descrip- 
tion, and though many a single object of sublimity may 
produce a stronger impression, it would be difficult to 
imagine a combination of objects more rich and powerful 
in an aesthetic sense, in which curiosity, delight, appre- 
hension, awe, admiration, by turns or together possess 
the mind, and in which at the climax Sublimity reigns, 
having her residence and domain in darkness, silence 
and depths profound. There is no toyish effect, as one 
might suppose, in its slightest curiosities ; everything looks 
weird, and the taper-lights which exhibit them allow only 
that indistinct vision which suggests images to the fancy, 
and leaves them unfinished. 



272 777^ VIRGIN.! A TOURIST. 

The feeble and broken light secures the best effects. 
The hollow reverberations of the lofty arches alarm us ; 
the fanastic shapes keep the imagination in constant ex- 
ercise ; and a thought of greatest sublimity possesses us 
as we contemplate this ceaseless workshop of silent forces, 
going on in grim, straightforward energy, never looking 
to right or left upon their visitors as they build their 
curious world. The human workman looks sometimes 
away from his work ; he eats, he sleeps, he rests, he ob- 
serves the spectator. But Nature, here and everywhere — 
in its subterranean forge, or in the ripening field, or in 
the decaying wood — is incessant ; and this grand thought 
comes to us in this underground workshop with a peculiar 
and mysterious force. It is the Sphynx, living rather than 
monumental. We stand by the patient endeavor that 
rears these forms ; we confront in unutterable mystery the 
stony-eyed persistence of the secret force that answers no 
question, that never glances from a perpetual task, that 
heeds no watcher or intruder, doing its work deep down 
in earth, while overhead the same law of the unceasing 
goes on, and Nature continues 

" Her old quiet toil in the heart of green 
Summer silence, preparing new buds for new blossoms, 
And stealing a finger of change o'er the bosom 
Of the unconscious woodlands." 

How sublimely does Nature work ! Day and night — 
when the golden sun swings in the open spaces, and when 
the glittering chains of stars have riveted the darkness on 
the sky- — unceasingly, from a time no man knows to an 
end unimaginable, have been wrought the wonders that 
we look upon with strained eyes and amazed hearts 
among these subterranean monuments of the ages. The 



FROM STAUNTON TO WETERS CAVE. 273 

stalactite upon which our hand rests has been building 
from a time long before man made the first letter of his- 
tory or planted the first seed of his empire — before, as 
Professor Rogers has calculated, man was known to exist 
in the Biblical chronology. It had commenced to form 
before a single tower of man's greatness or of his folly was 
raised toward the sky ; it will continue to increase, the 
water will percolate and drop, as long as the scroll of the 
upper world endures, and while a thousand histories have 
been written and consumed upon it. The crowd upon 
the imagination becomes painful in the darkened chamber 
in which we stand ; it is the sublime carried to the last 
point of endurance ; and yet the lesson we take away is 
sweet and powerful, for it is the lesson that Nature per- 
petually teaches of patience and persistence, when she 
shows us every achievement of Time and Labor identified, 
the grand, unimpeachable economies of her universe. 







PRACTICAL HINTS TO THE VIRGINIA 
TOURIST. 



irrfAirr 



HE route which we would recommend to the 
Virginia tourist is, with some exceptions, that 
which runs through the preceding pages, serving 
as a thread of narrative to hold them together. The ex- 
ceptions are those which are suggested for the mere topical 
convenience of the traveler. 

First to Lynchburg. The Natural Bridge and the 
Peaks of Otter may be taken as outlying attractions, each 
reached in a day's journey. 

Thence to the Alleghany Springs, doubly attractive for 
their medicinal water and scenery ; in the latter catalogue, 
Puncheon Run Falls and Fisher's View. The Montgom- 
ery White Sulphur Springs and the Yellow Sulphur 
Springs are near by, and may be compassed in a ride of a 
few hours. 

Farther to the south-west are three ranges for the tour- 
ist, which may be taken in order. From Bristol to the 
Natural Tunnel (undoubtedly the greatest wonder of 
Virginia). From Glade Springs Station into and through 
Tazewell county, an excursion into the Alps of Virginia. 
From Christiansburg into Giles county, taking in the 
scenery of New river. Salt Pond, Stony creek and Bald 
274 



PRACTICAL HINTS TO THE TOURIST. 275 

Knob. All these three ranges are transverse to the Vir- 
ginia and Tennessee Railroad, the points of departure 
occurring in the order named : Bristol, Glade Springs 
and Christiansburg. We may substitute for the two 
latter, Wytheville and Montgomery White Sulphur 
Springs. 

Returning to the rail, leave it at Coyner's Springs ; 
thence to Lexington, Rockbridge Baths, Rockbridge 
Alum Springs, etc. We are now in the Valley of Virginia, 
and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad and stage-lines 
branching from it give access in every direction. 

No summer traveler in Virginia will omit the Green- 
brier White Sulphur Springs. 

Thence, at the end of a day's journey and in the four 
quarters of the compass, are spas in three counties : 
Monroe, Greenbrier and Bath. Return east by the thermal 
waters of Bath. 

From Staunton go to Weyer's Cave. Thence back to 
Staunton and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, 
striking the avenue of continefital travel at Charlottesville, 
from which we may go north, south, east or west to our 
homes. 

The route described is, to some extent, on three sides 
of a triangle, making its apex at Charlottesville. Beyond 
this triangular plot there is, to be sure, much in the State 
to attract the tourist ; but he may content himself that 
within the boundaries described he has compassed what is 
most interesting in Virginia in the measure of its twin 
attractions — natural scenery and mineral springs. 

Such a tour as we have described may be done in 
twenty days if sight-seeing is only concerned, and for an 
expense of about one hundred and twenty-five to one 
hundred and fifty dollars, considering the traveler in 



276 THE VIRGINIA TOURIST. 

motion, or as stopping only single days at the places 
named. 

The charges at the Virginia watering-places are uni- 
formly three dollars per day and seventy dollars for the 
month, but with one exception of excess, and that is th^ 
Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs, where the rates are 
four dollars for the day, and for the month in proportion. 

Horses may be hired in the country for a dollar and a 
half a day. At Bristol and at Liberty we got good 
mounts at that rate. At the springs the charges for horses 
and vehicles are higher, but very moderate in comparison 
with the liveries of the North. There w^as a stud of very 
stylish horses at the Alleghany Springs, which were hired 
for the saddle at one dollar for the first hour and fifty 
cents for the succeeding hours, or three dollars for the 
whole day. Excellent carriages, seating four, were hired 
at five dollars a day. 

Let the tourist bring his fishing-rods, and a gun to shoot 
deer. A common fault at the springs, and which is per- 
haps prevalent at all watering-places, is the idle and dawd- 
ling life ; but the spas of Virginia have this great and 
peculiar advantage — that instead of the visitor being 
compelled to walk or ride on a dusty thoroughfare or hunt 
a paltry stroll on the beach, he may lose himself in a few 
moments in the neighboring forest, where recreation may 
be sweetened with perfect solitude, or exercise freshened 
with the mental excitement that makes it alike pleasant 
and profitable. 

One word to visitors from the North. So far from 
apprehending any unpleasantness or any coldness of re- 
ception in the summer resorts of •Virginia, they may be 
assured of a welcome much more lively than what pecun- 
iary interest habitually extends to its customers. The 



PRACTICAL HINTS TO THE TOURIST. 277 

writer noticed at all the Virginia springs which he visited, 
that wherever a guest hailed from the North there was a 
special and sedulous effort on the part of the company, so 
far as it might be done without officiousness, to pay such 
stranger extraordinary attention, and to reassure his or 
her doubts of the hospitality and social generosity of the 
South. Such efforts were made in excellent taste, quite 
removed from vulgar importunities, and with a purpose 
that merits hearty commendation ; and, indeed, we have 
witnessed no happier occasions of re-establishing the social 
reunion of the two sections than at these rendezvous of 
pleasure in Virginia, where the inspirations of Nature dis- 
pose the mind to forget alike its griefs and passions, and 
where invariably attend some of the most genial and 
cultivated people of the South. Those persons in the 
North who may be induced to turn away from the worn 
resorts of the tourist and the invalid in their own section, 
to try, if only for novelty, a season in the Virginia moun- 
tains, will be received there with the most cordial welcome, 
will enjoy the advantages of marked efforts to please them, 
and will have the satisfaction of assisting in a social 
''reconstruction," in which the people of the South are 
prepared to meet them with gracious readiness and with 
grateful alacrity. " Let us have peace " is at least written 
on every signboard that displays to the Virginia tourist a 
fountain of health or an appointment of pleasure. 

To the peaceful and richly-endowed spaces of her 
springs and mountains and scenery the State invites all 
comers ; and what Nature has bestowed, a generosity that 
does not encumber with its obligations, and a hospitality 

that never wearies of its offices, unite to dispense. 
24 



o 



0"2":tTEI^'S 

WHITE AND BLACK SULPHUR 

SPRINGS. 



THIS WELL-KNOWN WATEEING-PLAOE, 

Situated in Botetourt county, Virginia, on the line, and in full 
view, of the Virginia & Tenn. Railroad, is 

OPEN FOR THE RECEPTION OP VISITORS. 

Persons leaving Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Norfolk and 
Petersburg will arrive the same evening at the Springs ; those coming from the 
South and West reach the Springs in about ten hours from Bristol. 

Visitors desiring to stop, by informing the Conductor, when they strike the Vir- 
ginia & Tennessee Railroad, of the fact, will be landed at the platform IMME- 
DIATELY OPPOSITE TO THE SPRINGS. 

NO STAGING. 

The HOTEL being only about two hundred yards from the 
platform, makes it a very desirable KESTING-PLAOE 
for persons from the South going North or re- 
turning home at any season of the year. 

The undersigned (formerly of Richmond) takes pleasure in informing his 
friends and the public generally that he has removed to this place with the intention 
of making it his permanent residence, and will spare neither trouble nor expense 
to render it pleasant and agreeable to his guests. There are 

FIVE SULPHUR SPRINGS, 

the medicinal qualities of which are so generally and favorably known that it is 
deemed unnecessary to speak of their virtues. 

J^^h. Fine Band of Music will be in attendance during the season. 
. ^•^ < 

BOAItn per Day , ............,.,,....,.......$3.00 

« per Week .16.00 

" per Month (of four weeks) 60.00 

For a longer period than one month special arrangements will be made. 

WM. H. FRY, Proprietor. 

^»-POST-OFFICE, BONSACK'S, ROANOKE CO., VA. 




CONGRESS SPRING, SARATOGA, N.Y. 

CONGRESS SPRING, the most famous of the medicinal springs of Saratoga, was dis- 
covered in 1792. It has been successively owned by the LIVINGSTONS (who obtained 
the jjroperty under an early grant or purcliase) ; GIDEON PUTNAM, one of the founders 
of the village of Saratoga ; Dk. J(^HN CLARKE, who was the first, in 1820, to bottle the 
water for exportation and sale; LYNCH & CLARKE, CLARKE & WHITE, and the 
CONCiRESS AND EMPIRE SPRING COMPANY, who are the present proprietors, 
and by whom the waters are now sent to all parts of the civilized world. 

CONGRESS WA PER is a purely natural mineral water, cathartic, alterative, and slightly 
stimulating and tonic in its effects, without producing the debility that usually attends a course 
of medicines. It is used with marked success in affections of the Liver and Kidneys; and 
for Dyspepsia, Gout, Chronic Constipation and Cutaneous Diseases it is imrivaled. It is 
especially beneficial as a general preservative of the tone of the stomach and the purity of the 
blood, and a powerful preventive of Fevers and Bilious Comi>laints. 

The same company are also proprietors of the COLUMBIAN, a Chalybeate Mineral 
Spring, situated near the Congress; and al.so of the famous EMPIRE SPRING, whose 
waters, being similar to the Congress, are extensively used, with very beneficial effects, as a 
remedy for a great variety of bilious disorders, rheumatic and scrofulous affections, etc. 

During the many years in which these waters have been before the public they have en- 
joyed a steadily increasing popularity, and they remain at the present day 

PURE, UNCHANGED, UNFAILING! 

BUY ONLY THE BOTTLED WATERS. NONE GENUINE SOLD ON DRAUGHT. 
FOR SALE BY DRUGGISTS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. 

Every Genume bottle of Congress Water has a large " C" raised upon iJie glass. 



Purchasers will find a full supply of these Waters, fresh front the Springs, in the hands 
of the following ae:eHts : BULLOCK & CRENSHAW, 528 Arch St. & 331 North St., 
Phila., Pa. : HURI-BUT & EDSALL. 32 Lake St., Chicago, 111. ; F. E. SUIRE & CO., 
cor. of 4th and Vine Sts., Cincinnati, Ohio; A. A. MELLIER, 600 Main St., cor. Wash- 
ington Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. ; E. J. HART & CO., 73, 75 & 77 Tchoupitoulas St., New 
Orleans, La. 

Orders addressed to us by mail will receive prompt attention. 

THE CONGRESS AND EMPIRE SPRING CO., 

Saratoga Springe, N.T., or 94 Chambers St., New York City, 



Virginia Hotel, 

— • ^•^ ■ 

"WIVE. FItAZIiBIt, Late Proprietm- Jiockbridge Jlum Spriv^s. 

CAPT. WM. H. SALE, LateSupt. Rockbridge Alum Springs. 



The new proprietors of this Leading and Popular Hotel beg to announce 
that the same has been remodeled, newly painted and refitted throughout with NEW 
FURNITURE AND BEDS, of best quality and at heavy cost. HOT, 
WARM AND COLD BATHS: BILLIARDS! (Being the only Hotel in 
Staunton with Bathing Rooms and Billiard Saloon.) 

The Bar is stocked with as PURE WINES AND LIQUORS as can be 
found in this country. An extensive Livery Stable connected with tlie House. 

Springs visitors and tourists in Virginia will find this an attractive point for spend- 
ing a few days or weeks. The great State Institutions established here, the flour- 
ishing Seminaries, male and female, the various Churches, the notable heaUhfuhiess 
of this "City of the Hills," and the picturesque scenery of the great Valley of the 
Shenandoah, have long made Staunton a favorite Summer Resort, and the " Vir- 
ciNi.\" the leading Hotel of the place. 

From this point parties visit the famous "^Weyer's Cave," the "Cave of Foun- 
tains," the ''^Natural Chiimieys''' or ''''Cyclopean Towers,^'' and ''^ E llioW s Kiiob,^* 
the loftiest mountain peak in Virginia. 

^^^ Omtiibus to and from Railroad Depbt free. 

Stage OfUce, to all points, is kept in the house. 

A Book for European Tourists. 

HINTS FOR SIX MONTHS IN EUROPE: 

BEING THE 

Programme of a Tour through Parts of France, Italy, Austria, Saxony, Prus- 
sia, the Tyrol, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, England and Scotland. 

BY JOHN H. B. LATROBE. 

16mo. Toned paper. I^xtra CloUi. $1.50. 



"A volume most delightful and entertaining, as well for the general reader as 
for one who, about to embark upon a half year's travel, needs an intelligent view 
of a pleasant route to be taken, and of annoyances to be avoided. Mr. Latrobe's 
book will be highly appreciated wherever read." — Baltimore Staiestnan. 

" It is a genuine treasure-book for every new European traveler. . . . And if 
this programme should be carefully studied by one about to start on a summer tour 
in Europe, and be substantially followed by the tourist, he would secure for himself 
manifold more enjoyment, and save himself from countless disappointments and 
vexations which he would be sure otherwise to experience." — Boston Evening 
Traveler. 

" The result is a highly satisfactory volume, which we commend and recommend 
to travelers, whether they go abroad or stay at home." — The Philadelphia Press. 

For sale by all Booksellers, or ivill be sent by vtail, postage free, on receipt of 
price. 

Published by J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 

715 and 717 Market St., Philadelphia. 



LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 

OF 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & Co. 

PHILADELPHIA. 



Will be sent by mail,, fostfaid^ on receipt of the price. 



The Albert N''Tanza. Great Basin of the JVile, 

and Explorations of the Nile Sources. By Sir Samuel White 
Baker, M. A., F. R. G. S., &c. With Maps and numerous Illus- 
trations, from sketches by Mr. Baker. New edition. Crown 8vo. 
Extra cloth, $3. 



" It is one of the most interesting and 
instructive books of travel ever issued ; 
and this edition, at a reduced price, will 
bring it within the reach of many who 
have not before seen it." — Bostonjournal. 



" One of the most fascinating, and cer- 
tainly not the least important, books of 
travel published during the century." 
Bostoti Eve. Transcript. 



The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia^ and the Sword- 

Hunters of the Hamran Arabs. By Sir Samuel White Baker, 
M. A., F. R. G. S., &c. With Maps and numerous Illustrations, 
from original sketches by the Author. New edition. Crown 
8vo. Extra cloth, $2.75. 



" We have rarely met with a descriptive 
work so well conceived and so attractively 
written as Baker's Abyssinia, and we cor- 



dially recommend it to public patronage, 
... It is beautifully illustrated." — N. O. 
Times. 



Eight Years^ Wandering in Ceylon, By Sir 
Samuel White Baker, M, A., F. R. G. S., &c. With Illustra- 
tions. i6mo. Extra cloth, $1,50. 



"Mr. Baker's description of life in Cey- 
lon, of sport, of the cultivation of the soil, 
of its birds and beasts and insects and rep- 
tiles, of its wild forests and dense jungles, 
of its palm trees and its betel nuts and in- 
toxicating drugs, will be found very in- 
teresting. The book is well written and 
beautifully printed." — Bait. Gazette. 



" Notwithstanding the volume abounds 
with sporting accounts, the natural history 
of Ceylon is well and carefully described, 
and the curiosities of the famed island are 
not neglected. It is a valuable addition to 
the works on the East Indies." — Phila. 
Lutheran Observer. 



PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT (2r» CO. 



Tricotrin, The Story of a Waif and Stray > By 

OuiDA, author of " Under Two Flags," &c. With Portrait of the 

Author from an Engraving on Steel. i2mo. Cloth, $2. 

" The book abounds in beautiful senti- 
ments, expressed in a concentrated, com 
pact style which cannot fail to be attractive, 
and will be read with pleasure in every 
household." — San Francisco Times. 



" The story is full of vivacity and of 
thrilling interest, " — Pittsburg Gazette. 

" Tricotnn is a work of absolute power, 
some truth and deep interest." — N. Y. 
Day Book. 

Granville de Vigne; or. Held in Bondage. A 

Tale of the Day. By Ouida, author of " Idalia," " Tricotrin," &c 
i2mo. Cloth, $2. 



" This is one of the most powerful and 
spicy works of fiction which the present 



century, so prolific in light literature, has 
produced." 



Strathmore; or. Wrought by His Own Hand. A 

Novel. By Ouida, author of "Granville de Vigne," &c. i2mo. 

Cloth, %2. 

" It is romance of the intense school, 
but it is written with more power, fluency 
and brilliancy than the works of Miss 



Braddon and Mrs. Wood, while its scenes 
and characters are taken from high life." 
— Bosto7i Transcript, 



Chandos. A Novel, By Ouida, author of '^ Strath- 



more," "Idalia," &c. i2mo. Cloth, $2. 



what exaggerated portraiture of scenes and 
characters, but it is a story of surpassing 
power and interest." — Pittsbtirg Evening 
Chronicle. 



" Those who have read these two last- 
named brilliant works of fiction (Granville 
de Vigne and Strathmore) will be sure to 
read Chandos. It is characterized by the 
same gorgeous coloring of style and some- 

Idalia. A Novel, By Ouida, author of ^^ Strath- 

more,'* " Tricotrin," &c. i2mo. Cloth, $2. 



" It is a story of love and hatred, of 
affection and jealousy, of intrigue and de- 
votion. . . , We think this novel will at- 
tain a wide popularity, especially among 



those whose refined taste enables them to 
appreciate and enjoy what is truly beau- 
tiful in literature." — Albany Evening 
Journal, 



Under Two Flags. A Story of the Household 

and the Desert. By OuiDA, author of " Tricotrin," " Granville de 
Vigne," &c. i2mo. Cloth, %2. 

It is enough of itself to estab- 



" No one will be able to resist its fasci- 
nation who once begins its perusal." — 
Philada. Evening Bulletin. 



of Ouida. 

lish her fame as one of the most eloquent 

and graphic writers of fiction now living." 



Thisisprobably the most popular work | — Chicago Journal of Comtnerce, 

Ouida^s Novelettes. First Series, Cecil Castle- 

maine's Gage. Second Series^ Randolph Gordon. Third Series 
Beatrice Boville. Each of these volumes contains a selection of 
"Ouida's" Popular Tales and Stories. i2mo. Cloth, each ^1.75. 



" The many works already in print by 
this versatile authoress have established 
her reputation as a novelist, and these 
short sto'ies contrir-tite largely to the stock 



of pleasing narratives and adventures alive 
to the memory of all who are given to 
romance and fiction." — N. Haven Jour. 



PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT <Sr» CO. 



The Old Majit'selle's Secret. After the German 

of E. Marlitt, author of "Gold Elsie," "Countess Gisela," &c 
By Mrs. A. L. Wister. Sixth edition. i2mo. Cloth, j^i.75. 

"A more charming story, and one which, 
having once commenced, it seemed more 
difficult to leave, we have not met with for 
many a day." — The Rotind Table. 

•'Is one of the most intense, concentrated, 
compact novels of the day. . . . And the 
work has the minute fidelity of the author 



of ' The Initials,' the dramatic unity 01* 
Reade, and the graphic power of George 
Elliot." — Colutnbus (O.) Jourtial. 

"Appears to be one of the most interest- 
ing stories that we have had from Europe 
for many a day." — Boston Traveler. 



Gold Elsie. From the German of E. Marlitt^ 

author of the " Old Mam'selle's Secret," " Countess Gisela," &c 
By Mrs. A. L. Wister. Fifth edition. i2mo. Cloth, $1.75. 



" A charming story charmingly told." — 
Baltimore Gazette. 



"A charming book. It absorbs your 
attention from the title-page to the end." — 
The Home Circle. 

Countess Gisela, From the Gerfuan of E. Mar- 
Wit, author of "The Old Mam'selle's Secret," "Gold Elsie," 
" Over Yonder," &c. By Mrs. A. L. Wister. Third Edition. 
i2mo. Cloth, $1.75. 



" There is more dramatic power in this 
than in any of the stories by the same 
author that we have read." — N.O. 7'itnes. 

" It is a story that arouses the interest 



of the reader from the outset." — Pittsburg 
Gazette. 

"The best work by this author.'' — 
Philada. Telegraph. 



Over Yonder, Erom the German of E. Marlitt, 

author of " Countess Gisela," " Gold Elsie," &c. Third edition. 
With a full-page Illustration. 8vo, Paper cover, 30 cts. 



" ' Over Yonder' is a charming novel- 
ette. The admirers of ' Old Mam'selle's 
Secret' will give it a glad reception, while 
those who are ignorant of the merits of 



this author will find in it a pleasant in- 
troduction to the works of a gifted writer." 
— Daily S entitle I. 



Three Thousand Miles through the Rocky Moun- 

tains. By A. K. McClure. Illustrated. i2mo. Tinted paper. 
Extra cloth, $2. 



"Those wishing to post themselves on 
the subject of that magnificent and ex- 
traordinary Rocky Mountain dominion 
should read the Colonel's book." — New 
York Times. 

" The work makes one of the most satis- 
factory itineraries that has been given to 
us from this region, and must be read 
with both pleasure and profit." — Philada. 
North American. 

" We have never seen a book of Western 
travels which so thoroughly and completely 
satisfied us as this, nor one written in sucn 



agreeable and charming style." — Bradford 
Reporter. 

" The letters contain many incidents nf 
Indian life and adventures of travel which 
impart novel charms to them." — Chicag* 
E'nening yournal. 

" The book is full of useful information.' 
— New York Independent. 

" Let him who would have some propei 
conception of the limitless material rich- 
ness of the Rocky Mountain region, read 
this book." — Charleston {S. C.) Courier. 



PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT &> CO. 



Our Own Birds of the United States. A Fa7niUar 

Natural History of the Birds of the United States. By William 
L. Baily. Revised and Edited by Edward D. Cope, Member of 
the Academy of Natural Sciences. "With numerous Illustrations. 
i6mo. Toned paper. Extra cloth, $1.50. 



" The text is all the more acceptable to 
the general reader because the birds are 
called by their popular names, and not by 
the scientific titles of the cyclopaedias, and 
we know them at once as old friends and 
companions. We commend this unpre- 
tending little book to the public as pos- 
sessing an interest wider in its range but 
similar in kind to that which belongs to 
Gilbert White's Natural History of Sel- 
borne.' — N. Y, Eve7i. Post. 

"The whole book is attractive, supply- 
ing much pleasantly-conveyed information 
for young readers, and embodying an ar- 



rangement and system that will often make 
it a helpful work of reference for older 
naturalists." — Philada. Even. Bulletin.^ 

" To the youthful, ' Our Own Birds' is 
likely to prove a bountiful source of pleas- 
ure, and cannot fail to make them thor- 
oughly acquainted with the birds of the 
United States. As a science there is none 
more agreeable to study than ornithology. 
We therefore feel no hesitation in com- 
mending this book to the public. It is 
neatly printed and bound, and is profusely 
illustrated." — New York Herald. 



A Few Friends^ and How They Amused Them- 

selves. A Tale in Nine Chapters, containing descriptions of Twenty 

Pastimes and Games, and a Fancy- Dress Party. By M. E. Dodge, 

author of " Hans Brinker," &c. i2mo. Toned paper. Extra 

cloth, $1.25. 

or less intellectual, all provident of mirth, 
requiring no preparation, and capable ol 
enlisting the largest or passing off with the 
smallest numbers. The description is con- 
veyed by examples that are themselves 
' as good as a play.' The book deserves 
a wide circulation, as it is the missionary 
of much social pleasure, and demands no 
more costly apparatus than ready wit and 
genial disposition." — Philada. North 
A tnerican. 



" This convenient little encyclopaedia 
strikes the proper moment most fitly. The 
evenings have lengthened, and until they 
again become short parties will be gath- 
ered everywhere and social intercourse 
will be general. But though it is compar- 
atively easy to assemble those who would 
be amused, the amusement is sometimes 
replaced by its opposite, and more resem- 
bles a religious meeting than the juicy en- 
tertainment intended. The ' Few Friends' 
describes some twenty pastimes, all more 



Cafueos Jroju English History, By the author of 

"The Heir of Redclyffe," &c. With marginal Index. i2mOo 
Tinted paper. Cloth, $1.25 ; extra cloth, $1.75. 



" An excellent design happily executed." 
-N. Y, Times. 



" History is presented in a very attractive 
and interesting form for young folks in this 
work." — Pittsburg Gazette. 

The Diamond Edition of the Poetical Works of 

Robert Burns. Edited by Rev. R. A. Willmott. New edition. 
With numerous additions. i8mo. Tinted paper. Fine cloth, |i. 



"This small, square, compact volume is 
printed in clear type, and contains, in three 
hundred pages, the whole of Burns' poems, 
with a glossary and index. It is cheap. 



elegant and convenient, bringing the works 
of one of the most popular of British poets 
within the means of every reader." — Bos- 
to7i Even. Transcript. 



J. B. Lippiiicott & Co.'s Magazines. 

• ^ m^ ■ 

Messrs. J. B. Lippincott & Co. have now the pleasure of offering to the read- 
ing public a series of monthly Periodicals distinguished alike for the excellence and 
variety of their matter and for the number and beauty of their illustrations. Sub- 
scriptions may begin with any number. 

LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. 

An Illustrated Monthly of Literature, Science and Education. 

YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION, $4. 

LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE has already secured for itself the highest lit- 
erary reputation, and since its commencement has steadily gained in public favor. 
The object of the publishers will continue to be, to present to the American public 
a magazine of the highest class; and they, will avail themselves of every means to 
render it still more valuable, attractive and entertaining. 

THE SUNDAY MAGAZINE. 

Profusely Illustrated. Edited by THOMAS GUTHKIE, D.D. 

YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION, $3.50. 

The SUNDAY MAGAZINE will continue to be instructive on religious sub- 
jects, stimulating by its stories of the lives of the wise and good, and so interesting 
in its tales and sketches of life and character as to render it attractive in the homes 
of tens of thousands ; to be read by people of all Christian denominations ; to be 
of no class, of no sect, of no party, but belonging to all, and profitable to all. 

GOOD WORDS. 

Profusely Illustrated. Edited by NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D. 

YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION, $2.75. 

GOOD WORDS is in every respect a first-class monthly, its contributions being 
from the pens of the most able writers of England. It is now by far the most pop- 
ular magazine issued in that country, and is already favorably known here. Its 
contents embrace Novels, Tales, Sketches of Travel, Papers on Science and Art, 
Essays on Popular Subjects, Poems, etc., by well-known authors. 

GOOD WORDS FOR THE YOUNG. 

Profusely Illustrated. Edited by GEORGE MAODONALD, LL.D. 

YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION, $2.50. 

GOOD WORDS FOR THE YOUNG is a beautifully illustrated Magazine 
for young people, containing Stories, Sketches, Poems, etc., adapted to the compre- 
liension of young readers. In the words of the Baltimore Statesman, " We pro- 
nounce it unhesitatingly the first of juvenile periodicals. We have seen nothing of 
its class that can compare with it in the beauty, variety, and good taste of the read- 
ing matter, nor that approaches it in the number and excellence of the illustrations." 
C:j= FOB, SALE AT ALL THE BOOK AND NE"WS STOBES, 

The FOUR MAGAZINES, to one address, $10.25 W annum. Specimen 
Number of any one of above mailed on receipt of 25 cents; or one of each for 75 cts. 

A FULL PROSPECTUS of the above, with CLUB RATES and PREMIUM 
LISTS, mailed on application to 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT &, CO., Publishers, 

715 and 717 Market St., Philadelphia. 



WASHINGTON HOUSE 

Cor. eighth AND CHURCH STS., 

LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA. 



T. C. S. FURGUSON, Proprietor. 

» ♦ ♦ 

Offers Accommodations to the Traveling Public 

Unsurpassed by any Motel in Virginia. 

Low Charges, Good Fare and Careful Attention. 

I^-OMNIBUS FREE.^^t 

THE ORANGE, ALEXANDRIA AND MA- 
NASSAS RAILROAD. 



Passing out of Washington City, the main line of this road extends 
through Piedmont Virginia, celebrated for fertile soil and unsurpassed 
climate — a district made famous by events of the recent war — Ma- 
nassas, the Rappahannock, Culpeper, the Rapidan, Orange, Gordons- 
ville, Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia, and to Lynch- 
burg, connecting there to all the South-west. 

At Gordonsville, going south, and at Charlottesville, northbound, 
connection is made with the Chesapeake and Ohio R. R. \.o Richmond, 
and all points in the Atlantic States south, and westward to Staunton, 
Lexington, National Bridge, and all the notable Virginia Springs. 
The Greenbrier White Sulphur is reached by continuous rail in twenty- 
four hours from New York City. 

At Manassas, a branch makes off over a beautiful and fertile 
country through a gap of the Blue Ridge, and sixty-eight miles up the 
Valley of Virginia to Harrisonburg, one hundred and forty-five miles 
from Washington, passing the best farming and grass lands of the State. 

The comfort and safety of the trains on this road are well known 
and appreciated by the traveling public. 

May. 1870. I. M. BROADUS, G. T. A. 



E 

ANNOUNCEMENT; 



The undersigned, Lessees of the 

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, 

announce that these celebrated Springs, so long and I 
favorably known for their valuable Alterative 
Waters, their charming summer climate, and the 
large and fashionable crowds that annually resort to 
them, will be opened for the season of 1870 on the 

FIFTEENTH DAY OF MAYe 

The location is 2000 feet above the level of the sea, 
affording entire relief from summer prostrating heats. 

Then" capacity for accommodation is from 1500 to 
2000 persons. 

I^^Frof. Rosenberger's Celebrated Band will be in 
attendance to enliven the Lawns and ^all-rooms. 

^^ Masquerade and Fancy Balls will be given as 
usual through the season. 

I^^An extensive Livery will be kept on the premises. 

HOT AND WARM SULPHUR BATHS, so 
efficacious in many cases, always at the command of 
the visitor. 

Neither effort nor expense will be spared to make 
these Springs merit a patronage as liberal as they have 
heretofore so constantly received. 

I^^The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad is now 
completed and running to the Springs, so that travelers 
from every section of the Union can now reach them 
by continuous railroad lines. 

^^ KTelegraphic line is in operation to the Springs, j 

CHA.IIGES FOn THE !St:a.soiv. 

Soard per week $25 

" month of 30 days 9(MJ| 

Children and Colored Servants, half price, ■ 

White Servants, according to the accomtnodations furnished. 

PEYTONS & CO. 

White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., May 5, 1870. 



